Hospitalization of American Idol hopefuls

Cafe Society
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For some reason, I haven’t seen anything at all posted on American Idol for a while, so, while this is a bit late, I’d really like to see if anyone knows anything.

Okay. I saw what had to be the first truly scary moment on this show last Tuesday, when someone who was onstage facing the judges staggered forward and fell off the stage. (Forget the name; female, dark skin, kinda short, there with her dad, if that helps.) I was amazed that she didn’t suffer a serious injury. It was at least five feet straight down to the cold, hard floor, and she hit her head (and remember, this is a singer, not Mick Foley).

On Wednesday, we found out the cause: She got dehydrated and fainted.

Which, naturally, led me to wondering…how the heck do you get dehydrated on American Idol? You’re indoors, out of the sun, and every large building has a water fountain or at least a sink somewhere. Trust me, you can’t ignore thirst. There’s simply no reason to skimp on water. You don’t have to make weight or anything.

Wednesday’s previews hinted that some more hopefuls are going to need medical assistance to complete Hell Week.

I’ve never seen anything like this before. Heck, I’ve never seen anything like this on Survivor, which is far more physically grueling. Granted, it’s possible that some of these people are simply out of shape, handicapped, or otherwise in less than ideal health, and there is a lot of pressure. It’s bad, but it shouldn’t be ER bad.

Anyone following this?

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Paradoxically, thirst is not one of the symptoms of severe dehydration. I’ve been severely dehydrated a few times in the tropics, and it is possible to drink just enough to quench your thirst without actually rehydrating. There’s also diuretic intake (e.g. coffee or Coke) and electrolyte imbalance to take into account too.

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Plus nerves causing an upset stomach can discourage you from drinking enough.

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An upset stomach can also retain the stomach contents and not allow them down into the intestine to be absorbed. And diarrhoea and vomiting can lose you up to a gallon as well.

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There’s also a flu bug going around the room. One of the singers was shown working with her group while carrying a trash bag to puke into.

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Nerves don’t have to upset your stomach to cause dehydration. Sometimes, you can be so nervous you simply forget to drink.

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Here’s the video. Her name is Symone Black. She’s really not all there when they start interviewing her.

It just looks like a regular nervous faint following a large expenditure of energy (diaphragmatic breathing with that level of volume and control is extremely hard work) and an incredibly high-stress atmosphere. I wonder if dehydration was actually a contributing factor at all.

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It doesn’t matter if there wasn’t a reason. All that matters is that she didn’t drink any water (or eat much). And as others have said, she was probably terrified all day.

I’m not sure if it’s the case, but it was edited to make it look like tent girl was patient zero. Can you go from being in contact with someone who’s showing symptoms to showing your own symptoms within a matter of hours? I thought most stomach bugs took a day or two to do that.
But either way, I don’t think this has anything to do with what fainting girl has.
Also, it looks Nigel will be calling the medics a bunch more times this week.

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I wonder if part of it is mass hysteria. It is breeding ground for that–high anxiety, away from home, poor sleep and not eating, etc.

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Apparently, a stomach bug was spreading through the contestants. One of the easiest ways to dehydrate is to have diarrhea or vomiting, and then not drink water in quantities enough to replace the fluid you’re losing. People die that way.

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Okay, got it. Man, that’s harsh.

Now I’m seriously wondering why AI simply didn’t push things back a week when that many contestants are getting sick. The show must go on? The show hasn’t started yet. When you’ve actually chosen the contestants, go ahead and be as ruthless as you want. You can’t tell me that forcing a lot of people to take serious risks to their health benefits anyone.

The producers, the judges, Ryan Seacrest, someone really needs to take a look at this. A concussion can mess you up for life, and all it takes is one moment of weakness.

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Time is money. They have a schedule to meet, the production people for Hollywood week are probably scheduled for other productions the week after. They flew in hundreds of people, many of whom probably had to take time off work. I don’t think delaying it for a week because a few people have the stomach flu is a realistic option.

What they could do is hire more medical people, have someone going around with water making sure people are hydrating properly, put some big strong guys at the front of the stage in case someone goes over, etc. They probably are doing that - I saw a lot of water bottles in various shots.

Also consider that AI likes to play up the drama. They may be making it look at lot worse than it was.

Compared to shows like Survivor, the contestants on AI are being pampered. Even the ‘brutal’ group sing prep showed that most people were in bed by 2 AM. That’s not exactly grueling.

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That’s it exactly - drama. People falling off stages and previews of bunches of people getting taken away in ambulances is drama!

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On top of that, part of what they drill in to you during this is the whole ‘the show must go on’ thing. If you’re too sick too perform, you get booted off. Sure, once you’re celebrity you can cancel a show because you have a stomach bug (but you probably won’t), but at this stage in your career it’s not something you can afford. Power through the rehearsals, suck it up for the performance and then go crash for a few hours. Also, as the judges have said countless times, if you really are that great, getting kicked off of AI isn’t going to end your career, you’ll find another avenue to stardom. Another talent scout will find you doing backup for another band or you’ll keep auditioning for other people. The people who really are too sick to get up on stage one time and cry in to the camera that this was their only chance because they quit their job and they’ll be too old next year and blah blah blah probably weren’t going to make it that far anyways.
Besides, out of the 200 that made it this far, look at how many made it too group round. Some of them sounded like they had never sung in their life and only made it to Hollywood on shear luck and having rehearsed ONE song a thousand times and probably did something quirky and were smart enough not to say “Can I just sing one more thing” if their voice cracked or they lost their place.

Also to agree with Cat (that I see in preview). We saw, I think, two people get sick and one person fall off the stage out of two hundred that went to Hollywood. Not exactly an epidemic. It was just edited to look that way. Between Wednesday and Thursday they probably showed her falling 7 or 8 times and that girl puking into the garbage bag 5 or 6 times.

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Hey Sam, good to see you back! :waves:

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:falls off stage waving:

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Oh my God! jjimm - are you okay? Do you need a medic? Should I call 911?

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[Weakly] It’s OK. Nigel’s taking care of everything. It’s just… I have this dream. And I want it more than anyone… It’s been such an amazing journey so far… :dramatic drumbeats: :credits:

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Ryan Seacrest: Tomorrow on American Idol, we’ll see the dramatic conclusion to jjimm’s fall. Will this be the end of the road for him or will this is this just the beginning of his life long dream. Also, we’ll we’ll meet his crippled grandma, his wife with no arms and we’ll see his house that was built on a swamp. It sunk but he rebuilt it and it sunk again, the third one…that burned, fell over and then sank…but the forth one that stayed up…and we’ll get to see that one (sorry, got carried away there).

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As an aside, every time they interview someone who says how very much they want this, I always think of Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton, after she lost the nomination to run for president. “Yeah, that was the problem; I didn’t want it enough!” with her eyes all wild and scary. :smiley: