Is American Idol Fixed?

American Idol switched up the format for Tuesday night's broadcast, causing a bit of confusion for one of the judges, and causing fans to wonder if their critiques are actually predetermined.

This week's performances by the top five contestants, David Archuleta, David Cook, Brooke White, Syesha Mercado and Jason Castro unfortunately didn't blow the roof off, but Paula Abdul's performance may have blown the cover off of AI's rumors of being scripted.

The contestants were slated to sing two songs of singer/songwriter Neil Diamond, and in a twist that now has producers scrambling, the judges were held off from critiquing the performances until after the all contestants had performed both of their Neil Diamond picks. After the first round of performances, the top five were called on stage for a quick recap critique as they assembled in a line on the stage.

While visibly rushed with their performance critiques, Paula Abdul noted she barely had time to write everything down. Beginning with Jason Castro's performance, Abdul stated she enjoyed hearing his lower register - but to the stunned reaction of the audience, she continued that his second performance lacked his usual charm, saying, "the two songs made me feel like you're not fighting hard enough to get into the top four." A brief, tense silence was then followed by an uncomfortable laugh from the audience. Since Castro had only performed his first song for the night, where was this second critique coming from?

A quick glance to the producers by host, Ryan Seacrest, started an immediate "live TV" chain reaction, with judge, Randy Jackson politely reminding Abdul they were only commenting on the first performance. With Abdul exclaiming that she thought Castro had sang twice, a frustrated Simon Cowell finally stepped in and bluntly asked Abdul to just pick her favorite contestant before contributing his own usual two cents.

Since American Idol is broadcast live, the only way the judges would have knowledge of Castro's second performance is if they either attend the show's rehearsals, are exposed to the performances throughout the week, or more suspiciously, are given pre-arranged performance evaluations by the show's producers to combine with their own comments each week.

It is possible American Idol's judges spend more time preparing their critiques before the show actually broadcasts, but how much of the critique is then based on the actual live performance in which the contestants are supposed to be judged? Reminiscent of the Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950's, one could speculate that sponsor interference may lead to fixed results. But it's safe to say the Idol camp will stay mum, and the live show will continue, gaffes and all.