Fans of reality competition shows might have noticed something very different missing from the audition rounds.
Going back to American Idol, the show that started it all in the United States, people watched the auditions not only to see the top talent sing, but to see the bad auditions as well.
However, look at the auditions from Season 20; no bad auditions were featured. Even those who didn’t make it were good, but not good enough.
There was no William Hung, and there likely will never be again, at least for the televised auditions on shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent.
The reality shows are about promoting positivity and showing off great singers. They don’t embarrass people anymore on national television.
Jessica Sanchez loves that bad auditions are gone from American Idol
Jessica Sanchez was the runner-up on Season 11 of American Idol. She was a great singer and made it a very long way.
In an interview with Insider, Jessica said that she is happy that the bad auditions have been eliminated from the actual TV show.
She said she understands that the “cringe-worthy clips” get a lot of viewers to tune in and watch the auditions, but she feels that it is mocking the bad singers and is mean.
“It’s tough because I can tell that a lot of these people are really bad, like some of them are just really bad, and they just don’t know it,” Jessica said. “And some of them are really bad, and they just want to be on TV.”
She said there are great singers who are putting everything they have into their performances and it isn’t really fair to have them overshadowed by bad singers wanting to get their reality TV fame.
“If you’re going to have airtime, you should be pushing people that are really serious about music and that have really been dedicating their lives to it,” she said.
Crystal Bowersox agrees with this sentiment
Crystal Bowersox was the runner-up from Season 9 and she agreed with the sentiment.
“It’s bullying, and I’m glad that they don’t do that anymore,” Crystal said.
She referred to it as “shock value” and said that “they were just simply going to make fun of them and crush their dreams and send them home.”
This was proven when William Hung said he performed his audition twice before being sent in to sing in front of the judges. The producers knew what his singing and performance were like and that it would likely bring in great numbers when the judges sent him packing.
American Idol is on hiatus. The singing reality competition series will return in 2023 to ABC.