Austin auditioners were flown to San Francisco to audition in front of the judges

American Idol 5 »
by Andy Dehnart / February 3, 2006, 6:25 AM

The American Idol 5 auditions that aired Wednesday were supposed to have taken place in Austin. But in reality, the contestants—the good and the bad—were flown to San Francisco to appear in front of the judges.

Although “Ryan Seacrest did his standups and intros at all the important Austin landmarks — the Capitol, the University of Texas Tower, etc,” and while “there were scenes outside the Erwin Center, where more than 5,000 wannabes sweated out the first-round auditions back in August,” the show’s “judges never came to Austin because of our influx of Katrina and Rita evacuees,” the Austin-American Statesman’s Diane Holloway reports.

She calls the presentation “‘creative’ editing” and “a tad deceitful,” as the show never acknowledged the shift in location.

Weird Austin “Idol” hopefuls debut [Austin-American Statesman]