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A little update

Panic at the Stage on Rock Week—An Injured Stage Manager, A Collapsing Tower, And A Rush To Record Stuff

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/american-idol/american-idol-8-panic-at-the-s-28365.aspx

So what happened? Two hours before the show, stage manager Debbie Williams fell from the retractable staircase—the one that pops up at the beginning of each episode, from behind the big screen—and sustained an injury. The automatic staircase moved too quickly, and Williams was rushed to the hospital.

A member of the crew told People magazine that the injury is quite serious—a “very deep gash down to the bone,” the source said, that was sustained on one leg and required stitches. Williams, known as Ryan’s right-hand during the live shows—you might remember her as the crew member who helped Brad Pitt with his microphone at last year’s Idol Gives Back special—is now “doing much better,” according to a tweet Ryan posted on his Twitter page.

That may have happened two hours before the live show, but chaos still ensued immediately before the show aired. The events led to audience members being barred from the CBS Television City studios until 20 minutes before the show started. Staff were frantic to get the viewers seated as quickly as possible. “Ignore your tickets,” they yelled. “Just grab a seat wherever you can!”

Then the final four contestants—Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, Danny Gokey and Kris Allen—were ferried out to the stage to record 30-second segments of their songs, to be used as part of the performance recap at the end of each episode. You know, that segment when Ryan flashes all the phone numbers one last time. It was finished two minutes before the show began.

Obviously, the staircase that injured Williams is now fixed. Ryan went down that at the beginning of the show, and Gwen Stefani—whose band, No Doubt, will appear in tomorrow’s results night—went down the same stairs, as the band pre-recorded their performance for tomorrow.

And all we saw was a tweet on Ryan’s Twitter page, talking about the two accidents, and nothing more.