Is American Idol a Valid Talent Competition?

It's been two seasons since I had my very own American Idol auditioning experience and in the rise of new talent and television shows which showcase and vote for their favorites who will surely become the next big thing and is it a valid competition or a hoax? What do they fail to share with their viewers and on what basis do they decide who's of Idol worth and who isn't?

In my own American Idol auditioning experience, I traveled from Louisville, KY all the way to Boston, MA to join a couple of friends and our individual ego's on a quest to see if we were destined to become the next American Idol or at least destined for the chance to sing on national television. Along with thousands of other idol wannabes, we found ourselves camping overnight in a rainfall that failed to cease, leaving all of us soaking wet, freezing cold and doubting whether or not a chance to be the next American Idol was worth the risk of catching a cold or even pneumonia.

The waiting and anticipation seemed endless and although there were plenty of voices to be heard both talented and excruciating to the point that one would ponder over praying for temporary hearing loss, the excessive bad weather and the outdoor venue proved to remain a spirit killer as flocks of Idol wannabes crammed into the restrooms to clean themselves up as good as they possibly could under such ill-weather circumstances.

As the television show itself makes the audition process seem relatively easy and right to the main judges, in reality it deemed to be a much longer process as after talking with many Idol wannabes who had been auditioning in hopes of their fifteen minutes of fame since the very first season had helped to enlighten me that right away, I was not going to be standing before Randy, Paula and Simon but yet a panel of unknowns that work somewhere within the music and television industry.