REALITY BYTES

Chris Harrison, the host of The Bachelor, was just on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”. Chris would not give up too much about what is coming up on The Bachelor next. At least, Chris did not get into specifics about upcoming events. Harrison did promise us that this next upcoming episode of The Bachelor will be the best one yet, not to be missed. By the expression that Harrison had on his face, it was very convincing.

Unless Chris Harrison is just doing his job and trying to hype The Bachelor, this upcoming episode could very well be the big one. We’ve all been waiting for DeAnna Pappas shows up at The Bachelor house and turns it all upside down. The remaining Bachelorettes that are trying to win Jason Mesnick are going to just fall in love with DeAnna, when she does arrive.

While on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen pushed Chris Harrison pretty hard about DeAnna stealing Jason away. Ellen truly believes that DeAnna and Jason Mesnick are the couple that are now engaged to be married. She told Chris Harrison that Jason Mesnick slipped up on her show, a couple of weeks ago and spilled the big secret, unintentionally.

If Jason Mesnick and DeAnna Pappas are really engaged, then the whole thing between DeAnna and Ace Amerson is nothing more than a publicity stunt, to throw the media off The Bachelor trail.

What you can be sure of is, millions of The Bachelor fans will be tuning into this next episode of The Bachelor, airing Monday evening to see what all the hype is really about!

Last night, we got to see American Idol Auditions in Jacksonville. This is Randy Jackson territory. Randy, Kara, Paula and Simon were all in rare form; which is to say: Simon Cowell was not in a terrible mood.

The People of Jacksonville, Florida were really geeked up when American Idol came to town. Last night’s episode showed a few short clips of Jacksonville natives paying homage to one of their own. Randy was eating it up!

The only real thing noteworthy about last night’s American Idol auditions taking place in Jacksonville, was the turn out for Randy Jackson. Overall, the auditions in this city seemed to go the way of most other Idol auditions, so far this season.

We do love to watch American Idol auditions every season. Some auditions are surprisingly good, a few are terrible and several more, are people that can carry a tune. I am still amazed so many people that don’t make the cut are totally heartbroken, after being turned down.
Every season, American Idol judges get more selective. If you have not noticed this yet, a few auditions have been turned down based on not having the right chemistry. In other words, their voices are great, but they are not perceived by Simon Cowell and the others, as being: “American Idol” material.

American Idol is becoming more of a commercialized search for talent to fit a mold, than ever before. Joanna Pacitti got the nod to go to Hollywood this season, and she is a professional recording artist. This line has not been crossed, until now.

Joanna Pacitti - American Idol audition.

Kara DioGuardi is the newest judge for American Idol. Kara totally defends Joanna to be a contestant this season. Kara does not feel that Pacitti has an unfair advantage over the other contestants, by already having a career in the industry.

Yet, doesn’t Joanna Pacitti’s mere appearance on American Idol, help boost her professional career and her record sales?  Doesn’t Pacitti’s Hollywood slot, take someone elses; a hopeful that does not have a musical career already? Doesn’t this open the American Idol door for more professionals, with drooping musical careers to become contestants next season? Someone needs to beg the question: What is American Idol really about, these days?

Maybe their was something in The Bachelor air, for last nights episode. The first Bachelorette that Jason eliminated, is on the 2-on-1 date. The next you know, Mr. Mesnick decides to eliminate 3 more of the Bachelorettes at the end of last night’s episode. He was only supposed to eliminate two, but Jason Mesnick took this show into his own hands and told three of the women, he did not see himself being with them. Why waste time, when you know what you don’t want? So Jason, next episode of The Bachelor you will be sending everyone home, except for Mellissa?

Jason eliminated Nikki, the admin. assistant during the 2-on 1 date. This elimination I understood. Jason had just found out from Nikki that she had been involved with a long term relationship over 11 years, since she was in high school. My estimation was, Nikki really didn’t have enough broad experience yet, to figure out what she really wanted.

Shannon, Lauren and Megan were axed at the end of last night’s The Bachelor episode. They all felt Jason was not being fair with his choices at elimination and changing the rules, as he had. Well, it’s Jason’s show, sort of. If he wants to ad-lib and throw some rules out the window, it’s Ok with me.

Shannon leaving The Bachelor, is not that bad of an idea. On last nights episode we got to see some of the “crazy” Shannon come out of her shell and try to box Jason in pretty tight.

Next week, I think we finally get to see DeAnna Pappas come into the house and stir the pot. Most of us know by now that DeAnna is not going to end up with Jason Mesnick, but the women don’t know this. Should be a lot of malicious fun, watching the remaining Bachelorettes get all crazy when DeAnna steals The Bachelor away for awhile.

If you have not been following Sober House, it’s that spin-off show of the continuing adventures from “Celebrity Rehab”. It’s also the ongoing saga of Stephen Adler, ex “Guns and Roses” drummer, who graduated from “Celebrity Rehab 2″; only to give Sober House a real ratings boost for it’s first three episodes.

In episode one, Stephen Adler is caught smuggling heroin into Sober House and getting high. In episode two, Adler must have stashed his heroin all over the Sober House so he could get to it easily.

Episode two of Sober House is a real eye opening show, into the process of sober living. I have never seen anyone this high on anything before. It’s amazing that Stephen Adler can still move at all, after doing all that heroin!

As the Sober House family throws a cookout and invites friends and family, Adler begins to get high on his heroin, believing that know one will be the wiser.

After the cops are called to take Stephen Adler out of Sober House, Episode three will kick in, showing Adler in court. He is given two choices. Stephen can go to jail or be admitted to “Las Encinas”, a rehab lab in Pasadena, CA. In fact, this is where Kelly Osbourne is spending her time right now.

Adler opts to go to “Las Encinas”. In fact, because reality shows are never in real time, Stephen Adler is out of this facility now and going on a tour with his newly reformed band “Adler’s Appetite.” Good luck with your new tour Mr. Adler! They start their tour in about a week.

This is a clip of the Sober House cookout. Mary Carey’s boyfriend and manager David Weintraub arrives with his bodyguard as Mary’s guests.

Do any of you reality show fans recognize David Weintraub? He first showed up in “Sons of Hollywood” a couple of years ago. This was a reality show that was so self-serving, it went absolutely nowhere. The show aired for a split second on A&E, then was cancelled.

Later, Weintraub showed up on last year’s “Date My Ex: Jo and Slade”, as one of Jo’s suitors. Weintraub was the guy that stirred things up so much, that he was thrown off the show.

Keep your eye on David Weintraub. This guy wants to get a foothold in the media in a very big way. It’s not just a coincidence that Weintraub shows up at Sober House and just happens to be Mary Carey’s manager and boyfriend. You can expect Weintraub to steal some scenes from Sober House, to call his own. He is a reality show “gatecrasher” and he is as slippery as they come.

Was it only a matter of time before American Idol was going to start letting professional singers audition and get the nod of acceptance? We watched other American Alumni talents, such as Carly Smithson and Kristy Lee Cook compete for the American Idol crown. Both had prior record deals, before becoming American Idol alumni; so did many others before them. Are American Idol auditions open to amateurs, semi-professionals and professionals now?

Such is the case with this season’s American Idol. Joanna Pacitti tried out for the open auditions and got a ticket for the Hollywood American Idol competition. Joanna Pacitti wanted to boost her professional singing career, so she auditioned for American Idol this season and got accepted.

Pacitti has already starred in a professional Broadway musical and recorded an album with a major label, just two years ago. Joanna’s 2006 “This Crazy Life” on the Geffen label didn’t go platinum, but it is considered a professional product, performed by a professional singer.

And, there is much more that singles out Joanna Pacitti as a professional artist. In fact, Ms. Pacitti has her own “Wikipedia.com” page intact. You can access Joanna on Google and get as much information on her, as any other celebrity. Also, “You Tube” has more than a few Joanna Pacitti music video, pages of posts. Safe to say, Pacitti has a professional resume that most artists would die for.

This is  Joanna Pacitti performing her official music video “Let It Slide”.

When American Idol producers said they had a few changes and surprises in store for this season, they were not kidding! Allowing professional recording artists to enter into the American Idol competition has created a stir with Idol fans.

No doubt, Joanna Pacitti is a very good vocalist. Many American Idol forum fans feel that Pacitti has an unfair advantage over all of the other competitors for this American Idol season, and they are right. Nothing like having a built in fan base to give you a boost!

American Idol used to be known for discovering untapped talent. If the producers of American Idol let Joanna Pacitti compete this season, this opens the gates for almost any other professional singer to try out for American Idol next year.

Last night it was Louisville and San Francisco American Idol auditions. It was also the night Keneshe Young was found. A full hour to try and figure out why Louisville is tone deaf. If they had better auditions, the producers would have certainly shown them to us. Thank God we got to see the next winner of American Idol, before the show ran out of time.

It’s really hard to imagine that American Idol showed us thousands, upon thousands of Louisville hopefuls waiting for their auditions and they all fell flat. Yes, every season American Idol auditions seems to hit one or two cities, where most auditions don’t even come close to Hollywood. What is up with that?

What do you think of Kara DioGuardi as the newest American Idol judge? It is kind of tough to make any real judgements yet. In some ways, Kara seems to be a breath of fresh air. She is not afraid to stand up to Simon Cowell, that is a shining fact! Anyone that can react that strongly to Simon has my vote.

Keep your eye on Leneshe Young. She won the golden Hollywood ticket Oscar for last night’s American Idol auditions. Leneshe was raised in destitute poverty with her siblings. After the story leading up to Leneshe’s audition, I totally expected her not to be able to carry a tune at all. More, because American Idol enjoys doing the back stories on auditions that fall flat.

As Leneshe stood in front of the judges, a true miracle took place; Leneshe Young is the real thing. She not only sang well and looks like angel; this girl sang a song she wrote and got away with it! All four of the judges fell in love with Leneshe, because she is the real deal.

If anymore Leneshe’s turn up at later auditions, this season of American Idol could be one of the best seasons yet. Hang in there, Leneshe! Just be yourself. Your days of poverty are almost over now.