Watching Reality TV

My dear friend Angela from high school is a HUGE “American Idol” fan. She’s also incredibly lucky because she goes to AI tapings all the time. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But even going once is a lot more than I get to go so she’s lucky in my book. Anyhow, she just got back from a taping (last week’s show) and here are her observations:

• Blake and Chris are totally adorable together. They sang along with Akon (who wasn’t there, it was pre-recorded) and had a secret handshake.
• Blake definitely had the most signs in the audience, although I think Mandisa had a sign for Melinda.
• I think Jordin hates Sanjaya. She was obviously annoyed with him.

  During the breaks the contestants just chilled on the couches getting their make up redone for the most part. Sanjaya and Jordin were seated next to each other, and at one point I noticed Sanjaya blowing in Jordin’s face. He wouldn’t stop and she looked really annoyed. Then she snapped at him, “Stop it! You’re so weird!” and turned to face the opposite direction. Rawr.

• Sanjaya physically attacked Ryan after the whole “stand up, sit down” thing.

  In jest, I’m sure. I only caught the aftermath, really, since at that moment I was fixated on Blake and Chris’ reaction to Chris being in the bottom 3. But then I noticed Ryan kind of stumble sideways and saw Sanjaya walking away with a grin on his face…. like he had gone over and pushed Ryan for torturing him with the results.

• J Lo got make up on Ryan’s suit when they hugged.
• The judges kept leaving during the commercial breaks. Odd. One time Paula had to literally run back to her chair and sat down at the very last second.

  There was a man in a wheelchair sitting next to me, and he had a dog to assist him. We were on the far right aisle near where the contestants sit on the couches to hear whether or not they’re safe. During almost every commercial break, the judges would walk down our aisle to go backstage…. to do lord knows what. They all stopped to chat with the man in the wheelchair and pet the dog. Simon actually stopped two or three times and was totally playing with the dog as if it were his own. It was surreal — Simon Cowell standing about 3 feet away from me smiling from ear to ear and being all happy and cute with a dog. Definitely not your typical image of Mr. Cowell!

• Simon and Ryan both chatted with Sharon Osborne in the audience.
• After the show, Pink recorded a performance that will be shown on a later broadcast. She’s awesome.

  I was thinking that Pink’s pre-recorded performance was going to be for the 2 hour “Idol Gives Back” special in a couple of weeks. However, I do remember them saying that it could be for IGB or for some other show. So maybe they don’t even know? Or maybe they were purposely being vague? The song she performed isn’t the same song that’s on the AI “hit list” site. Marc Anthony also recorded a little something (not a performance) for the IGB special that apparently will also feature Johnny Depp.

• Simon winked at me. It was weird.

  Simon was winking A LOT that night. In fact, when I watched my tape back, I noticed him do it on camera at least once, and I saw him do it off camera a couple of other times. I guess that’s his thing, to wink at people? (like Howie from BSB! lol) He smiled a lot too, surprisingly. Everyone seemed to be in a particularly great mood.

• Ryan and I shared a moment during the group song. We both did this: “HI!” It was special.

Thanks, Angela, for sharing that with me. It’s cool to get a “behind the scenes” peek at one of our favorite reality shows!

And, as a treat for you all, this fan video for you Sanjaya fans out there. Try getting this song out of your head for the next few days. I dare you.