So the Idol auditions came to a close this week in Atlanta, and it was worth watching the final show just to see this girl: Amanda. Authentic biker rock chick and the closest thing we’ve seen so far to a dead cert to go through Hollywood and into the final stages. All the usual comments about “knowing who you are” and “being honest and authentic” applied to this girl in spades. The Ace of Spades probably.

Apart from her, and the young guy who had come back from a previous year having done his homework and vastly improved his performance, the action from this particular audition show played out pretty much as we’ve come to expect. I don’t know whether Idol is losing popularity among contestants (the viewing figures seem to be holding up) but this year saw “only” 100,000 contestants, and from these only 164 have made it through to Hollywood. Tune in next week (still on Thursday and Friday!) to find out how they get on.