I've been reading so much on here regarding "experienced professionals" auditioning for Idol. I just have to ask, have you guys actually READ THE RULES? I have! There is NOTHING in the rules that say that a contestant has to be completely undiscovered, never signed and amatuer. The rules only state that a contestant can't currently be in such a contractual agreement. If an artist is between record deals, they are eligable as far as I read. To me, it basically reads as though 19 is like any other record label, looking for their next sign...whether new artist or experienced and the TV show is simply an alternative way of finding who they want to sign. So those of you complaining that the show is violating rules my want to actually READ the rules and understand what they really say before running your mouths.

So does that mean if Britney Spears gets dropped from her record label tomorrow, she can audition for AI next year or the year after? That would be fine and dandy, huh? I think not.

You seriously need to read our front page article and post your comments there.

You're totally off on what the premise of American Idol is supposed to be and what it's become. Now, it's just producers paying off old debts. This is not what Kelly and Clay had in mind.

Edited to fix link.

You talk about rules. What about this violation?

I really hate to play devil's advocate here against us...

But, in theory at least, it could all be just chance. Here me out on this. I mean, it could just be a matter of people seeing now that you don't even have to win Idol to have a moderately successful music career. For people who have struggled and fought in the industry only to come up with nothing, I could certainly see how Idol would look like a pretty enticing shot at finally achieving some success. If that's the case, then it's not a matter of Idol "planting" people, but rather a bunch of industry losers trying to use Idol for their gain. Arguably the three judges aren't likely to recognize all of these industry nobodies when they send them through to Hollywood. Of course though, even in this scenario the producers would quickly have to realize how many of them have industry presence and at the very least be actively not doing anything to "fix" the situation.

Don't get me wrong, I actually do believe the plant theory. 100%. I'm just saying that for the time being it is a theory, not a fact.

Technically, YES! That IS how the rules read!

Alright. I'll check it out and do that.

No I'm not. I'm just more observant and privy than you are to what the rules of the show really are.

What about the rules violation I posted 18 minutes ago? Are you privy to that?

Based on the things that Britney's life is going, there's a 50% chance she will audition for AI next year.

Just read it. Interesting but irrelevant to THIS particular topic.

pain, if it was just a few, I might agree and write it off as a coincedence. But starting with NGAB and now with discovering that the fix was in even with the fake auditioners, Nigel looks to have become an even bigger control freak than ever before.

Oracle's treatise in the other thread pretty much summed it up. Reality doesn't exist in the Universe of Lithgowe. The early statements they made about the top twelve were a warning.

They are planning on scripting this season down to the smallest detail.

Well again, if you read the rules...she technically WOULD be eligable if she did not have a current contract. But... it would never happen. This show will ALWAYS be MOSTLY un-discovered acts. But my point is, you don't have to be un-discovered to get on. Just not bound to a CURRENT contract.

It's very relevent in that rules are being bent for plants, but you're such an expert on the rules, you already knew that.

Deny all you want...our article's been picked up around the World, and Fox is already spinning it. Funny, we hear all about Julie's background as it was convenient for her roasting. What about the others?

Hey if AI wants to be upfront about it and promote their show as a multi-week infomercial for 2nd or 3rd grade pro talent who they are trying to repackage and relaunch then that's fine. Marketing over substance has a time honored place in the music biz.

Their show ratings will tank of course, but then nobody cares about the ratings for infomercials anyway.

Of course it means all those thousands and thousands of people who lined up thinking they had a fair shot at a "competition" were actually screwed royally by a show looking only for starry-eyed folks to humiliate in an effort to chase "ratings".

But no. AI still promotes the myth that it is seeking undiscovered, fresh talent. That you, EVEN YOU!, can become America's next Idol. That thrilling every-man's and everywoman's chance for discovery and quick success which folks without contacts in the business could almost never get.

That, of course, is proving to be a lie.

And all the folks who vote for these contestants, believing they are helping some fresh young kid reach for his or her dreams are in fact just being tricked into shilling for rehashed pro talent that previously failed to impress. The vicarious thrill of helping a true undiscovered talent break into the business for the first time is also just a lie.

So next time you watch their promotions of this show, realize that while all those eager kids were waiting for hours for their big break, the only folks with a real chance to win, and the only ones, in the end, that you will be allowed to vote for, were already in the VIP room.

And so endeth the lesson.

"Deny"? I'm not "denying" anything. YOU actually are. I'm simply stating a FACT that the rules do NOT limit contestants to having "no PREVIOUS record deals or contracts of such". YOU are the one "denying" that this is really the case. I don't give a crap who is "picking up your article". Flatter yourselves all you want. The rules state what the rules state and NOWHERE...and I mean NOWHERE is there ANY limitations in the AI rules that say a contestant cannot have had a PREVIOUS deal. Only that they can't have a CURRENT one!

So what? The fact is that AI is misrepresenting the show and we have debunked that. Your point is moot.

It doesn't matter what the rules say. It's about how the show portrays itself as "finding new talent" when their contestants aren't at all amateurs.

People aren't complaining about what the rules are, really. We get what the rules actually say.

It is the problem of what the rules allow isn't the competition they are trying to sell to the public.

The problem is that the show MARKETS itself as if it is for people with no previous deal who are completely undiscovered talent that just walks off the street and plays to the dream that any one of us can be the American Idol.

I have always thought it was about who they could get that would sell records. Marketable and talented are not the same thing either. They ain't looking for the best talent, just the most marketable one.

They just aren't going to say in an interview that it just about money and marketability because that doesn't draw people to the show so they get good ratings for big ad revenue. Saying that they are looking for undiscovered talent sounds so much better and gets way bigger crowds to try out than saying you only have a shot if you've been working at a career for the last 10 years.

Actually the rules are that there are no rules and they can do whatever they damn well please.

The only three exceptions I've seen are these:

No current contract. Well, duh. You have to sign a contract to be on the show, and AI isn't going to buy out anyone's existing contract. But actually, the way the rules read, they could agree to buy out a contract if they wanted to, and then the person would be eligible.

The age. Which they've changed anyhow. And what's with all the auditions of ineligible people being shown on the air? Isn't that, in effect, someone appearing on the show?

Not a relative of any employee at Fox, 19, etc. Which is, I believe a law, not a rule.

Of course they have disqualified people in the past and claimed it was because of conflicts of interest, but really it was probably because of homosexuality.

So given that they can and will do whatever the hell they want and that they can and will lie through their teeth about it, why do you have a problem with Vote For the Worst informing America of the truth?