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American Idol 9: Why Tim Urban Replaced Chris Golightly in the Top 24by David Bloomberg -- 02/22/2010
View Printable version of this article When the semi-final 24 American Idol contestants were announced at the end of Wednesday’s episode, it was quickly obvious that Chris Golightly had been in the original photo of the 24, but suddenly he was gone and Tim Urban made it in his stead. We – and many others – immediately wondered what happened. At the time, Idol recapper Jenn Brasler said the story circulating was that Chris was disqualified just days before the episode aired for failing to tell the producers about a previous (expired) contract. We noted that it was not clear why he would have to tell them about a contract that isn't in play anymore, but we also knew all the details were not in. 
Now, we have more details. The New York Post reported that Tim Urban was only given “a couple of hours notice” that he had made it onto the show! They flew him to Los Angeles and he was in the top 24! Why? Because, as we had indicated, he failed to tell producers about the prior record deal. This still left the open question of why an old deal would matter, when we’ve always heard that the restriction is only on current deals. Luckily, we have an answer to that as well. An Idol “insider” was quoted by the Post as saying, “Whether [his recording deal] was active or inactive is irrelevant. He was disqualified because of a lack of veracity, because he didn't disclose his deal at all.” I had a feeling it might be the lack-of-veracity reasoning here rather than the fact that a deal existed. It’s sort of like the contestant who comes forward and lets everybody know that he did some things in his youth that he’s not proud of as opposed to the contestant who tries to hide it and has it found out. The deed didn’t kill their chances, the failure to be forthcoming did. In this case, the Post says that it wasn’t even Idol people who found out about Golightly, but people from the record company with whom he had a contract – and they told the Idol producers! I’m not sure why they would do that – don’t they realize that many Idol contestants sell more of their old albums as well when they hit our TV screens? Very odd. 
As for Golightly’s side of things, he was quoted as saying, “I told them I was in a band, and when they asked me if I had any contracts, I said no. … I earned that spot.” If true, that sucks for him. But somehow, I doubt it’s that simple and straightforward – though certainly there could have been a miscommunication. Bad news for Golightly is good news for Urban, who otherwise would have had to go through the entire audition process again next year if he wanted to give it another shot – even though he had been rated as just one shy of making it. Now Urban has the uphill fight to prove to America that he deserved this shot. The semi-finals start this week and only half the guys (and half the young ladies, of course) will make it to the finals. Now you can follow Foxes On Idol & RealityNewsOnline on Twitter and on Facebook! On Twitter, you can get up to the minute notifications on article postings and other reality TV news by following us. So head on over to RealityNewsOnline’s Twitter page! On Facebook, you can become a fan, join discussions, and more! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent articles on Foxes On Idol & RealityNewsOnline:
David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com. You can also now follow him on Twitter! Be sure to sign up for the RealityNewsOnline/FoxesOnIdol e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on both sites! Also make sure to check out RealityNewsOnline for recaps and articles covering other reality TV shows. For even more news about American Idol, be sure to check SirLinksALot: American Idol! View Printable version of this article
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