11.22.09
BLOGS

"American Idol" Week 3: Boricuas in the House!

Fox

Ah, the moment we've been waiting for. Idol finally touched down on the shores of San Juan last night, and—well, it was pretty much as bad as we'd feared. Except for one man!

Blessed with eerily similar pipes to Marc Anthony, 20-year-old Jorge Nuñez impressed the judges with "Mi Manera" (Frank Sinatra's "My Way," in Spanish), then did his thing in English with "What a Wonderful World." (Click here to watch his audition.) The latter song got a mixed reception, as new judge Kara DioGuardi gave Nuñez a bit of a hard time for his accent: "When you sang in English, there was definitley some pronunciation issues." But, wonder of all wonders, Simon Cowell came to his defense! "We're here because we actually wanted to find somebody who sings with their accent, otherwise we could just go to Omaha." Preach, Simon! Just like that, the adorable Nuñez was whisked into Hollywood...and we can't wait to see him there.

On the complete opposite tip was Joel Contreras (pictured above), who called himself "el rokero loco" and was easily one of the most shameless camera-whores we have ever seen on Idol (not an easy group to crack). He showed up dressed like a long lost member of the Pinker Tones, carried a giant cardboard iPod and just generally acted like an ass. For this, Contreras was ultimately rejected by the judges, but the camera did follow him around for several minutes afterwards as he backflipped into the hotel pool like a crazy person. Mission accomplished, we guess!

Not as offensive to my sensibilites were the two boricua ladies who passed the audition test: 16-year-old Monique Garcia Torres, whose unbelievably cute little brother singlehandedly turned the judges into softies and got his hermana through to the next round, and Patricia Lewis Roman, whose parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins started a spontaneous conga line when she made it to Hollywood. Because how else would a Puerto Rican family celebrate, right? Ugh. 

Next week, we arrive in Hollywood, where the real frontrunners emerge and the undeserving get mercilessly cut—i.e., my favorite part! Till then, Idol-lovers...

4 Comments
Even though Simon is mean, I really appreciate him standing up for our Latino brother. There is nothing wrong with Jorge's accent.
It wasn't just an assumption! The producer had already dissed puerto rico and that's why they combined the auditions there with the ones in ny. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/01/idol_producer_to_puerto_ric...
well i haven't seen that episode but PR has the best Music. And if he can sing in Spanish it shouldn't matter that he has a accent In English.
Why would you assume that the tiny island that has given this world world so much great music would have such crappy contestants? It makes me sad that you'd assume the worst....

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