American Idol: Was Joanna Pacitti a Plant for Season 8?

Every season of American Idol there are rumors about how the producers or the network executives have planted people in the auditions to make sure that people with real talent make it through. Every season people think that there are ringers because they can't be that good and not have been discovered. But this year, the controversy got even hotter when American Idol judges put Joanna Pacitti through to the top 36 finalists.

While the home viewers were watching Joanna beat out fellow contestant Felicia Barton, Felicia was learning that she would indeed be making the top 36 after all. How is this possible? The auditions and Hollywood week were previously recorded over the summer and fall and in the time they learned that Joanna had been seen with members of the production company that backs American Idol, leading to her disqualification and subsequent replacement by Barton.

This begs the question of whether she was planted in the competition or whether they were truly clueless about the situation. It also begs the question of why no one said anything during the first live show when the groups were announced. To me, it reeks of a cover-up and not for the first time, either. American Idol has been questioned several times over the past seasons about whether they plant ringers, especially since their rules state that you can not have a current recording contract, but does not exclude those who have had one in the past.

This also leaves me wondering about one of the contestants who was eliminated during the Hollywood round and whether he was eliminated because of his performance or whether American Idol executives were afraid of drawing attention because of his name. That's right, they eliminated one David Osmond during Hollywood group round due to laryngitis and one can not help but wonder if it is truly the reason, since they have let others have a pass for the same problem in other seasons.

This is just the first controversy of American Idol Season 8. What will be the next? Time will tell. You're going to have to tune in every week and find out, just like I will.

Sources:
Reality TV World - http://www.realitytvworld.com/
Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com