Where's our favorite for 'Idol'?
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
You watched, you wondered: Where was the Maryknoll School senior in last Wednesday's "American Idol"?
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
The highly touted fave didn't get on-air time before judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell. And she certainly wasn't identified. If you blinked, you missed a quick glimpse of her.
"American Idol" finalists Camile Velasco, 18, of Ha'iku, Maui, and Jonah Moananu, 21, of Kalihi, appeared at a viewing party at Dave and Buster's in Honolulu on Wednesday.
"They must be saving the best for last," said a Maryknoll official.
The student may still be in the running and could emerge on tonight's "On the Road to Hollywood" recap special (7 to 8 p.m., KHON-2) assembling the 117 who made the initial cut from regional Fox auditions last year in New York, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu.
This much is known: 17 in the Hawai'i tryouts qualified for the Hollywood run-off; nine were out-of-towners; eight others were Islanders, including Camile Velasco, 18, of Ha'iku, Maui, and Jonah Moananu, 21, of Kalihi, who competed on-camera and got celebratory hugs from well-wishers after facing the judges. (They also partied at a "Idol" screening last Wednesday at Dave & Buster's).
But secrecy shrouds the elite list of 32 candidates, who will be named during the countdown from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Another show, from 7 to 8 p.m. tomorrow, prolongs the anxious waiting.
The whittling-down process begins Feb. 10 (7 to 8 p.m.) and Feb. 11 (7:30 to 8 p.m.); Fox has not yet designated the Big Night finale yet. Before the wind-up, however, there will be a Best of the Worst special March 1 (7 to 8 p.m.) plus a "wildcard" show March 3 (7 to 8:30 p.m.), enabling eliminated singers to earn a slot on the final 12.
