The old switcheroo

There are some really interesting people coming from the Nebraska area. We've seen a farmer from Iowa, an arm-wrestling woman from Missouri and now we've a goth chick who used to be a wrestler.

Her name is Sarah Whitaker, and she's from Council Bluffs, Iowa, and she used to wrestle under the stage name of Lady Morgue, who has a British accent. She says she likes to be the villain and then demonstrates her trademark laugh, which sounded to me like my birds-in-nature alarm clock.

Anyway, she's kind of ridiculous, as is her singing, and Simon quickly cuts her off. He tells her that she's just really strange and that he can't picture her at the end of the season singing that song. They all say no, and she leaves.

But then it gets weird... Ryan comes in and asks them why they said no and if they're hearing clearly. I don't quite get why he's in there kind of defending this girl, but it quickly becomes this stupid argument about how Ryan's not a judge. So, Paula and Ryan decide to switch jobs for like 5 minutes. And then one of the funniest lines of the show... Ryan sits down in Paula's chair and says, "How can I pretend to be overpaid for doing no work?"


So, now we've got three male judges and Samantha Sidley, 22, of Los Angeles, walks in. She's adorable, although lacking in confidence. They ask her if she thinks she can win the competition and she says, "I don't know." While I find that really refreshing, I can see how it doesn't look great to the judges. They push her a bit and she finally says she thinks she could win because she has a good voice - clearly she needs help in the selling herself department.

She sings Norah Jones and I think she's doing all right. She has that soothing sound like Norah does, but I wonder if that's her sound, or if she's just mimicking Norah Jones for that song. New judge Ryan says he likes her voice but that she needs to work on her self-confidence. He also points out that she kept moving on the mark they put on the ground so people know where to stand. Paula hears that and comes back in saying that it doesn't matter if she moved around and then Simon says he wants Paul back. So, that's the end of Ryan's judging days. Before leaving, though, he tells Samantha that if it doesn't go her way, he wants her to know he would have said yes.

Paula says her voice was good but that her showmanship needs improvement. They all say yes, and she's through to Hollywood.