American Idol Pressure Forces Some Early Favorites To Crack

The claws came out, the tears flowed and one contestant saw evil in Paula Abdul's eyes during American Idol's group round, which may have been created for no other reason than to show us just how hard it is to play nice with others.

About 30 people blew it tonight—some rather surprisingly—including Emily Wynne-Hughes, Rose Flack and David Osmond and Deanna Brown, all of whom were oohed and aahed over early on.

Even Katrina "Bikini Girl" Darrell came undone in the end, felled by the very high heels that helped carry her to Hollywood.

But while some frittered away their last few minutes of fame griping and sniping at each other, others continued to promote their cause.

The group that dubbed itself White Chocolate, for instance—India Morrison, Justin Williams, Kris Allen and Matt Giraud—utilized their time wisely, polishing their "I Want You Back" vocals and coming up with cute choreography.

And the Rainbow Coalition—Danny Gokey, Jamar Rogers, Taylor Vaifanua and a talent to perhaps be named later—wowed the judges with their harmonious a capella version of Queen's "Somebody to Love."

Also among the lucky: Nate Marshall, Jasmine Murray, Jeremy Michael Sarver, Adam Lambert, Matt Breitzke, Jesse Langseth, Anne Marie Boskovich, Nick Mitchell and Jorge Nuñez.

Idol returns next Tuesday with the contestants' final solos, not to mention the inevitable crop of fresh faces they've been hiding from us.
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