Mediocre Talent on American Idol

Women have fought for years to be judged by their talents and skills, not by their looks. Such is not the case for American Idol's Season 8 contestant, Katrina Darrell. The 20-year old student from Chino Hills, California showed up at her AI audition wearing a teeny-weeny bikini and stilettos, thus appropriately dubbed "Bikini Girl" by the show.

Idol has seen a lot of stunts pulled by contestants in an effort to impress the judges, but this was definitely a first. The judges' initial question to Bikini Girl: "Do you go to all of your auditions dressed like this?"

As it turns out, this audition for Season 8 talent was special, and Darrell reserved her bikini just for this tryout.

For the audition, Ms. Darrell performed a rendition of Mariah Carey's Vision of Love, the debut single of this world-famous, record-breaking diva. And while Darrell started off on a good note, it was obvious that the more she sang, the worse she sounded.

Judge Simon Cowell approved her audition with a "yes" just after she sang the first line of the song. Cowell also just happened to stop the aspiring idol (implying that her audition was complete) prior to her hitting the higher and more difficult notes of the song.

Coincidence? It would be hard to believe that was the case.

The other testosterone-laden judge, Randy Jackson, also "loved" Bikini Girl's audition, and approved her to go to the next round of competition, in Hollywood, California. However, female judges Paula Abdul and newcomer Kara DioGuardi were not so impressed with the audition.

The women stated the obvious, complimenting the contestant on her boldness and "nice derrierre." However, Judge DioGuardi noted that Darrell didn't "have the chops to sing that song." This was not a deterrent to Bikini Girl, though, as she threw out her own insult to the judge, saying that DioGuardi's demonstration "wasn't any better."

Despite long periods of confusion and disbelief, AI judges welcomed Bikini Girl to Hollywood-on to the next round of auditions. This season, it seems as though American Idol is looking to boost their ratings, instead of searching for legitimate talent. The show's management had been concerned that ratings were down 8%, and was looking for ways to improve the show and regain lost viewers.

Audiences everywhere will be anxious to see what gimmicks Bikini Girl will pull to make up for her lack of talent. Whatever she pulls, we can probably bet that she won't make it to the top 24 competition.