American Idol: Big Surprise Coming When Show Reaches Top 12
With American Idol season 8 underway and many announcements being made of changes this season, Mike Darnell, president of alternative entertainment for FOX revealed that there are a couple more surprises in store for American Idol viewers this season. In an interview with TV Week, Mike Darnell said, “There’s a big surprise coming when we get to the top 12, but I can’t reveal it right now.” He said even the contestants will be surprised!
Some other changes revealed for season 8 are the contestants are going to live in a house instead of a mansion and there will be more behind the scenes footage taped. So if anything happens between the contestants…like sparks flying, we will be able to see some of it. “We’re hoping to get more of who they are, more of the reality version, to be honest with you. It makes the show tick,” Mike Darnell said.
Mike Darnell also told TV Week that Kelly Clarkson will appear on the show in a couple of weeks and that only big named musicians will be included as mentors this season.
So, American Idol may look a little bit like a musical version of Big Brother this season and forget about seeing the likes of Dolly Parton or Neil Diamond as mentors. If the show is trying to appeal to a younger crowd they will probably bring on Super Mega stars like Rhianna or Usher!
Mike Darnell is pretty happy with the way things are going so far this season, especially the addition of the fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi and he commented, “Well, we’ve done everything we can. Of course we added a fourth judge and we’re hoping that that changes the dynamic a bit, because what we’ve noticed with her is that she’s very good. She’s aggressive, she will fight with Simon Cowell, she’ll bond with Paula Abdul, she’ll fight with Paula, and what it’s doing is it’s taking the group dynamic and changing it. And I think the audience is ready for that. They don’t say the same things over and over again, because she’s inserted a different voice and that just by itself has made it more–sort of new, and it really is working so far.”
Poor Randy. Nobody fights with him.