Is Hollywood Week Too Stressful to Handle?

With Hollywood Week on American Idol comes the intense group round. Contestants have one night to team together, perfect a song, and perform it flawlessly the next day. All of these performers are complete strangers, so finding a group that will complement your voice AND make you stand out is a tough enough task to begin with. Add nerves, lack of sleep, and a fear of elimination to that equation and someone's bound to crack. Alexis Danielle Granville from the New Orleans auditions succumbed to the pressure and collapsed onstage during the group rounds — making me wonder if the show is too stressful for contestants to handle.

Not only was the moment extremely horrifying, it goes to show how stressful these auditions really are. Granville was stressed from the moment the group rounds started. Contestants had to find their own groups and get to work ASAP — and as anyone who's been forced to do a group project in a class full of stranger knows, that task can be pretty awful. She was the last one to find a group to audition with, which started the entire process off on a sour note. Sal Valentinetti, who I'm beginning to suspect is an unsung hero of this season, noticed Granville's distress and invited her to join his team of four — because, in true ladies' man fashion, he loves surrounding himself with women.

Everything seemed to be okay for Granville at this point. Even though she was picked last for the dodgeball game, she was on a strong team, which included Jax and Kelley Kime. Despite all this, the stress continued to get to Granville. The team was up all night practicing, and was probably set back and even more distressed by her first episode of panic. While I know Hollywood Week is supposed to symbolize the pressure of real Hollywood, is it right for these artists to be put through the ringer the way they are? Many other artists have cracked already, and the group rounds have just begun. The stress is literally making contestants sick. Hopefully Granville was able to recover from her panic attack and make it back onstage to perform with her group. Tune in next Wednesday at 8pm to see what happens!

Image: YouTube - American Idol