A few weeks ago music critic and betapundit reader jdmatthews of MusicalRamblings wrote a pretty raw critique of American Idol contestant (or rather, auditioner) Katrina Yauky. While ego-surfing one night, Katrina came across jd’s entry and wrote him a rather detailed and classy rhetort. She also sheds some light on the contractual process contestants undergo before auditioning. I found it to be revealing, but not hardly surprising:

I will come to my defense only in that what you saw was an edited version of my actual audition. I actually sang three songs in an initial audition and was asked to come back an hour later and sing another! So, indeed, with how they edited the clip, I looked like a “half-cracked” airhead. Infact I got almost halfway into the ‘humpty dance’, sang ‘what’s up’ by 4 Non Blondes, and then sang part of an original song. When they asked me to come back in an hour…Simon actually asked me to lose the boots that you loved so much. I did, indeed, go back without the boots for the second audition and in a totally different outfit. My song and outfit in the second audition are what got me booted. So their reaction takes are actually from the second audition after I had sung four songs for them. Ahhh…the powers of editing. Honestly, would reality television be any fun if there weren’t any editing? I’m sure many of the other performers had similiar experiences of surprise while watching their performances that were likewise edited.

Read Katrina’s email to jd its entirety.