Idol Ripped Off NJ and NYC!

Whatever happened with the auditions for American Idol that were held last September at the Izod Center?!

It turns out the Idol judges never taped the "You're going to Hollywood" session with the contestants who made it through the first round of auditions in NJ! For whatever the reason, they didn't get Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson together at the Meadowlands or in NYC for a day to listen to the singers who made it past the first cut.

Instead, a source says the contestants had to audition again in other cities, which explains why some of the hopefuls we saw from NYC showed up at the Pittsburgh auditions and some of the singers who were called back from our area ended up having to go to the Oregon auditions that aired last week. (Did they even PAY for the poor struggling singers' airfare or make them go on their own?!)

Dan Alexander, who covered the auditions along with Townsquare Media's Dino Flammia, remembers the September turnout was smaller than previous Idol auditions because  contestants who would normally come from all around the northeast couldn't do it this time because they were likely back in school.

Ryan Seacrest did show up and spoke to the media for the first time  at the New Jersey auditions, which took place the morning after the debut of The X Factor. Seacrest and the Idol crew even shot opens with the crowd  intended for use on the New Jersey  audition show.

At least The Point was in East Rutherford when those area hopefuls auditioned, and we have the pictures & video to prove it!