Who survived and who was eliminated in the 'biggest cut' in 'American Idol' history?
Things are heating up in the "Hunger Games"-like "Idol Arena."
On Sunday's episode of "American Idol," Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie kicked off "Hollywood Week" by being tasked with cutting at least 80 singers from the contestant pool.
One by one, the 143 remaining contestants gave their all on stage in a battle to the death. Though some crumbled under the pressure, others – including 15-year-old Triston Harper, mortician Kennedy Reid and college student Justice Murphy – thrived in the spotlight.
This left the judges with a conundrum. “We have to have an emergency meeting (with) the ABC network because we have a problem," Richie said as the performances were underway. "There’s no way on Earth... half of this class cannot go. It’s just impossible.”
Here are the night's highlights (and lowlights) — and who made it through to the "Showstoppers" round.
What happened last week? 'Bachelor' star Juan Pablo's daughter is season's youngest singer
Madai? Chakell gets a second chance after criticizing pianist who 'completely flipped the script'
Madai? Chakell – who, if you recall, earned two yeses from Perry and Richie for singing "I Kissed A Girl" and "Happy Birthday" – was, unfortunately, one of the contestants who was feeling the heat during "Hollywood Week."
Shortly after launching into Ariana Grande's "Tattooed Heart," Madai? cut the song due to an instrumental issue.
“Hold on. Hey, can we start over? I wasn’t feeling that one. Sorry y’all," she said. When it still didn't sound how she wanted, Madai? stopped her performance again. “OK, we’re going to do this acapella because that’s not flowing the way we practiced," she told the audience.
Ouch. To the pianist's credit, she wasn't wrong because she sounded better without the distraction of the piano.
Off-camera drama: Alyssa Raghu denies hijacking friend's audition, slams show's 'harmful' edit
She might not have garnered much support from her comrades with this stunt, but it showed she took her one shot seriously.
Things started breaking down further when Bryan – the sole dissenter during her audition – asked whether Madai? was “feeling OK” and if her voice was “a hundred percent.” She went off on the judge in an interview later.
“My pianist completely flipped the script on what we practiced," she said. “They also tried to play the card (of) ‘Oh, is your voice OK?’ What do you think? I was shaky because look at what y’all just did!”
She added, “Is your voice OK, Luke? I haven’t heard you sing. Obviously, I can sing.”
Luke Bryan gets testy with Madai? Chakell: 'Maybe we'll do 'American Humble' at some point'
After the show's producers made a good-faith effort to give her a second opportunity, Madai? got through a full performance of "Tattooed Heart." However, the judges didn't know what to do after she seemingly threw away her second shot by singing the last word, “heart,” with a Southern twang.
Bryan asked, “Why the ‘heart’ that way?”
She replied in a British accent: “You know, you said something before like I don’t know who I am quite yet. So I wanted to show you I can be everyone and everything; isn’t that what an American idol is?”
After she walked off the stage, Bryan told his colleagues, “Maybe we’ll do 'American Humble' at some point!” adding, “Probably not winning the audience with that one.”
KB Richins brings everyone to tears by getting choked up while singing
There was nary a dry eye when Kaibrienne "KB" Richins challenged herself to perform a "risky" song "that brings up so much emotion."
“As a little girl, I went through things that I don’t think a little girl should have to go through, things that I haven’t really dealt with," she explained.
As she belted out Jessie Murph's "How Could You," KB choked her way through the song's title lyrics, persevering with the help of her fellow contestants' applause. The 20-year-old came back stronger the second time when she accused her tormentor, "How could you?"
During her performance, it became apparent that the platinum ticket holders – Abi Carter, Julia Gagnon and Odell Bunton Jr. – were unwell, as they were shown holding each other's hands for support as tears streamed down their faces.
On the subject of these platinum ticket winners: The show really made sure they were targets for the nearly 150 contestants by having them sit in their own exclusive VIP section on set.
Here's who survived the 'biggest cut in 'Idol' history' – and who didn't
The judges could only pick a not at all arbitrary 56 contestants to advance to the "Showstoppers" round.
They brought out the 143 hopefuls in more manageably sized groups before dividing each in half, with one group being safe and the other going home.
Here are some of the contestants who are moving forward:
Triston
Will Moseley
Quintavious Johnson
Sam "Kayko" Kelly-Cohen
Mia Matthews
Jennifer Jeffries
KB
Nya
Kennedy Reid
Scarlett Lee
Anna Grace Hunt
Elleigh Marie Francom
Ajii Hafeez
Ziggy
Emmy Russell
McKenna Breinholt
Blake Proehl
Roman Collins
Alyssa Raghu
Abi Carter
Julia Gagnon
Odell Bunton Jr.
Episode 6 marked the end of the road for these contestants:
Madai?
Noah Peters
Kyra Waits
Kimi
Abby Blake
Conall Gorman
Bethany Teague
Meggie Iyer
Jacy Matthews
Amari Scott Keys
Athena Jett
CJ Rislove
The judges' decision split up the Matthews sisters as well as friends Kayko and Abby Blake.
The "Idol Arena" survivors were the "best of the best" – but only for now, because more than half of them will be eliminated during Monday's episode.
The "American Idol" pool will soon be whittled down to 24.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'American Idol' recap: Who survived Hollywood Week, and who went home?
