Vegas On My Mind

It's the most grueling event of the season: group round! Forty-two completely exhausted groups of contestants - some of whom only had two hours of sleep - held last-minute practice sessions before the judges arrived at 9 a.m.

After a particularly tough night between crying, fighting, the Idol bug, lack of sleep, and conflicting "Type A" personalities, The Betties were the first ones up. But only two of the five girls, Jennifer Malsch and Cari Quoyeser, made it through after a "really bleak" performance. Cherie Tucker, who seemed to have come down with the Idol illness, didn't think the verdict was fair. "I feel really cheated," she said tearfully.

Next up, Groove Sauce - including this year's Casey Abrams, Reed Grimm - set the bar very high, earning a standing ovation from the judges. "That's how you do it . . . amazing!" Randy said. The whole group moved forward.

By midday, other performers were suffering from a bout of verbal amnesia. "Why aren't you guys helping each other out a little bit?" Jennifer asked. "Just remember the words!" This proved to be easier said than done, with some hopefuls simply making up the lyrics as they went along. "A train wreck and a comedy of errors," Steven sighed.

Those Girls and That Guy - featuring police officer Alisha Bernhardt - promised to deliver "fun radiating from the stage" and vowed not to get cut. But Jennifer yawned during the performance, and one contestant fell asleep in the audience. "None of you made it through; it wasn't great," Randy said. Alisha, as usual, wasn't at a loss for words. "This sucks," she said as the door closed on another Hollywood dream.

Minutes before Area 451 was set to take the stage, they encountered a serious problem: group member Imani Handy passed out! As exhaustion and/or nerves seemed to have gotten the best of Imani, Area 451 had to make last-minute changes to become a trio.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Five, featuring younger contestants Eben Franckewitz and David Leathers, Jr., performed Duffy's "Mercy." The judges loved them. "You're all through to the next round!" Randy announced.

Still a bit wobbly, Imani rallied to join her group - and fainted again right in the middle of singing! Imani promised the judges that she's "really good," but Randy decided she couldn't handle the "rigor" of the competition. Only handsome Johnny Keyser made it through.

And there were many more casualties, including former bullying victim Reis Kloeckener; Symone Black, who had fallen off the stage last week ("I'm 16, so this isn't the end for me," she declared); and expectant father William "W.T." Thompson.

By 5 p.m., M.I.T. (Most International Team) was the only lineup that hadn't performed, and tensions were still running high between Heejun Han and "cowboy" Richie Law.

"I'm compromised, but at a certain point there's no compromise between good and bad - it's either good or it's not," Law said in the Idol confessions room. "One person in our group is probably going to be taken down, and if I stand above my group, I can make sure that's not me."

The group wasn't "perfect," but based on every time the judges have seen them all the guys went through. "We know how good you guys are," Jennifer said. "We need to see that tomorrow or you're going home."

Heejun was so relieved, he apologized to Richie for talking "lots of craps" about him on TV. "I'm really sorry - maybe you will see on TV I said really bad stuff about you," he said. Also going through were Erika Van Pelt, Adam Brock, Hallie Day, and Elise Testone.

Finally, it was early morning on the last day of Hollywood Week, and Steven and Randy were rocking out with the Idol band for a sound check. Each contestant had to perform one more solo with the band. In one of the best solo days ever, we heard amazing performances from Joshua Ledet, Colton Dixon, Phillip Phillips, Jen Hirsh, Creighton Fraker, Shannon Magrane, Skylar Laine (who came down with the Idol bug), and "white chocolate" Adam Brock (with the help of his lucky hankie).

Bad weather (in Southern California!) put a damper on a few performances, but Reed Grimm faced a different challenge. He wanted to sing a cappella, but according to the rules, you can't perform without the band. Only problem: Reed didn't rehearse with the band, so he only had 30 minutes left to do so! Idol's vocal coach tried to get him to focus as he wasted precious time calling home. After a tearful exchange of "I love yous" with his mom, Reed decided to play the drums. "I am the next American Idol because I got something that nobody got," the once-again confident Reed declared. Idol's music director was skeptical, but Reed pulled it off, and Randy told Jennifer, "That's another Casey there!"

As the curtain closed on solo day, single mom Rachelle Lamb stumbled over her lyrics. Then Rachelle and 98 other nervous contestants were sent to four different rooms to await the most brutal cuts yet. (Rachelle nearly got into a brawl with an overwrought contestant!).

At last, the results were in: Room 1 - including Creighton Fraker, Jen Hirsh, Erika Van Pelt, Hallie Day, Jermaine Jones, Lauren Gray, Adam Brock, and Joshua Ledet - made it through. So did Room 2, with Reed Grimm, Jessica Phillips, Phillip Phillips, Eben Franckewitz, Skylar Laine, and Shannen Magrane. Also making it to the next stage were the Room 4 performers, including Heejun Han, Baylie Brown, and Angie Zeiderman.

Room 3's contestants, however, weren't so lucky. Rachelle Lamb, NBA dancer Brittany Kerr, and Jennifer Malsch and the rest in Room 3 were going home.

"We think you're all amazing; it was a really hard decision to make," Jennifer said, trying to soothe the devastated hopefuls. But the show must go on . . . Now it's off to Vegas, baby!