On Tuesday Nigel Lyhtgoe was on a conference call with reporters to preview Hollywood Week on American Idol and he talked about a contestant who fell of the stage. Yesterday at the end of the episode, we watched as 16 year old Simone Black fell off of the stage as the credits rolled. But before she fell, you see her nervously play with her hair as though she knew something was wrong and she was trying not to let it get the best of her. Then you watch her slowly start to lose her balance and wobbling on the stage before she fell and it appears as though she was trying not pass out.
That is what we saw, and here is how Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe described it:
Actually, it’s extremely dramatic because of all of the sort of passing out. It really is. I was right by—because of where I sit I was right by Symone Black, who was the girl who fell of the stage, and it was almost like slow motion. And when I watch it back—because the cameras weren’t expecting it, we just caught it on a wide angle, unfortunately—it was like whoever was asleep on his camera went, “Where did that girl go?†And she just disappears below the frame. But when she dropped I watched myself walking towards the body, as it were, in slow motion, and the cameraman watched it happen just below the stage, and she wobbles. You literally see a wobble and her eyes dropping to the back of her head, and she falls. And the camera man, bless him, tries to dive to catch her because he’s on the floor on his knees, and he doesn’t get there and knocks his camera that falls on top of him. So it’s a complete, oh, my God, this is terrible. I’m shouting for medics and it’s scary, to be frank.
At first as he describes the incident, it seemed to me as though he was upset that the cameramen didn’t capture her falling off the stage, but then as he goes on he seems genuinely concerned for her safety.
You can tell as a father, Nigel ran to her to make sure she was OK and hollered several times for a medic to come. But my question is for the judges, why when they could obviously see something was wrong was Randy Jackson laughing at her comments and not asking her if she was OK? Why did Jennifer Lopez, who is mom to toddler twins, and Steven Tyler, who is a grandfather, not jump out of their seats and check on her? Why did they just sit there and in my opinion barely show any concern for her? Yes I know it is better to have the medics have a path to get to her and not to have her surrounded, but human instinct should be going over to her to see if she is OK? Don’t you agree?
When it comes to the producers decision to show her falling and then go to credits without giving us an update, it shows how desperate they are this season to get the viewers back. Will I be watching to see what happened? Nope, there are plenty of sites and YouTube that will give me the update. Just looking at my Twitter feed, several people were unhappy with how the producers handled the fall. Instead of getting the viewers they need to keep being the #1 show on TV they might have lost some. I know I am one of the former-fans that they lost this season.
Chances are Symone is fine and probably passed out because of nerves, lack of eating and tiredness that comes with Hollywood Week. But I still find it disgusting that the producers used a teenager who fell of the stage and appears to be injured to garner ratings for the show. Yes it makes good TV, but it would’ve made better television if they let us know what happened and not make us wait 23 hours. Seven more hours than years she has been alive.
Sorry it is things like this that make me think reality TV goes too far.
On a lighter note, I like Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s idea on how to make American Idol more interesting. I know I would watch if that is how they eliminated contestants and judges in the future.
