You might want to ping the group on this one:
‘American Idol’ — Duped by a Phoney???
Posted Feb 5th 2010 3:10PM by TMZ Staff
It seems one high-pitched “American Idol” favorite is not who she appears to be — at least when it comes to her accent — because Nicci Nix has been on all sorts of reality shows before ... with a completely different voice.
Nix — who impressed the “A.I.” judges with her helium sounding, Italian accented voice — has appeared on at least 4 other reality shows before she got to “Idol,” including “Fear Factor,” “Next,” “Making the Band” and “Date My Mom.”
When Nix appeared on “Fear Factor,” not only did she go by another name (Nicci Palmeri), but she claimed to be from California and talked without the slightest hint of an Italian accent. The accent was also MIA when she appeared on “Making the Band” ... plus her voice sounded deeper back then too.
But now, Nix’s “accent” has helped her through to the Hollywood round on “Idol” — wonder what she’ll sound like when she gets there.
Clips of her on the other shows are at the link.
Folks, we have been had.
I didn’t think she was all that good at the audition and was surprised she made it to Hollywood...looks like she just goes from one reality show to another...
American Idol: “Bikini Boy” Audition Was a Radio Station Stunt
Auditions for American Idol are always filled with funny, absurd, and just plain terrible aspiring singers and Tuesday night’s auditions in Denver were no different. Most notably was a performance by the Idol-hopeful appropriately deemed “Bikini Boy,” but before you feel sorry for a guy who might be mentally unstable, keep reading to find out about his audition which was nothing more than an elaborate hoax…
The aspiring American Idol contestant dubbed “Bikini Boy” is actually Ty Hemmerling, an employee at Denver radio station KWOF-FM. His impersonation of the infamous “Bikini Girl” from American Idol’s eighth season was nothing more than a prank for his job. According to Hemmerling, the Idol producers were in on the joke.
“They pretty much knew why I was there, and they made sure I knew that they knew — like, ‘You know why we’re putting you through, don’t you?’” the former KWOF-FM employee says. ”One of the first questions they asked me on the first day was if I worked for the media. And before I could even answer, they said, ‘Don’t lie, because we’ll find out.’ So I said, ‘This is what I do.’”
According to the 25-year old self-proclaimed “intern-stunt guy,” he had to go through multiple auditions over the course of a two-week period before finally having a chance to perform in front of the judging panel. Hemmerling didn’t expect to make it all the way through to Simon, Randy, and Kara. “I I thought I’d maybe get my picture taken in front of 12,000 people at Invesco,” he states. ”One of the producers said, ‘I don’t think you’ll get through to the judges, but you’ll probably get some face time.’”
Hemmerling made a promise to the producers to keep mum on the stunt for months until the episode aired which is why he ultimately had a chance to sing for the judges. “They said, ‘Keep your mouth shut. If you can do that, we’ll send you through,’” he says. The auditions were held late last summer.
Hemmerling, who borrowed his girlfriend’s bikini for the auditions, is hopeful that his newfound fame will land him an opportunity to return to American Idol for the season finale. “Maybe I can squeeze out fifteen-and-a-half minutes of fame,” he says.