Hollywood Week is always one of the toughest parts of American Idol. But this season turned into one of the biggest bloodbaths in the show's history. Judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan had to be cold as ice when it came to cutting through the competition. It's their jobs to whittle down the singers to just 24 for the live rounds.
With 143 contestants, you know there's going to be heartbreak. When the dust cleared and all was said and done, there was just 56 contestants left on the show. That means the judges got rid of over half the contestants. It's a move that can only be compared to the reality TV version of the Red Wedding (for all you Game of Thrones fans out there).
Contestants were put through the pressure cooker. While some rose to the occasion, others sputtered and failed or had their voices fail them. One contestant got particularly heated with Bryan and his comments as the stress to stay in the competition mounted. Previously, Richie discussed how stressful it can be as a judge to try to play executioner during Hollywood Week.
"It gets really emotional for us," Richie told ET. "We get to Hollywood, we realize, 'Oh my god, this one, this one, this one are out of their league.... But as it gets involved, we find ourselves now growing emotional, trying to figure out, how do we let them go?"
Who Survived the 'American Idol' Culling?
Ultimately, the judges ended up cutting 80 people from the competition. That means fans had to say goodbye to Abby Blake, Noah Peters, Connell, Kyra, Meggie, Madai, Bethany,Kimmy, C.J. Rislov and Jacy Matthews among many others.
However, several popular hopefuls also progressed to the second night of Hollywood Week. That means Mia, Kayko, Quintavious, KBlocks, Mackenzie, Jennifer Jeffries, Will Mosley, Triston, K.B, Nya, Kennedy, Ajii, Max Dasher, McKenna, Jack Blocker, Layla Dasher, Emmy Russell, Blake, and Ziggy are still in the competition. They were among the 56 contestants that remained.
"You have finally made it through the biggest and the toughest cut in Idol history," Perry said.Richie also agreed, "We are so confident that we have found the best of the best." However, Bryan was forced to remind contestants that they were only safe for one more evening. There can only be one American Idol, which means there's going to be a lot of heartbreak and tears along the way.
