Insightful, Hopeful

After missing the succeeding episodes after the first one, I was finally able to watch Idol again. I was glad that choosing the final 24 was not over yet. I thought it was last week.
Like American Idol, the contestants were grouped into three. Some groups had some conflict, but unlike their American counterparts, I did not see any walkouts or mumbling of bad words. I saw some familiar faces, those that previously joined other singing contests: Marinel Santos and OJ Mariano (from Star in a Million 1st and 2nd season, both 2nd placers) and Jason Velasquez (from Search for a Star where Sarah Geronimo won). I was also surprised to see Divo, a local singer.
Anyway, after the room elimination, (where contestants were asked to stay in a room and only 2 out of 4 rooms would make it to the next round), the singing contest finalists and Divo were eliminated. Only 40 remained. My guess is that the judges of course expected more from these contestants who had previous contest experience. Divo was bitter, after being eliminated saying "Maraming hindi magaling" (many of the other contestants are not good). The grandson of Dolphy, was also not included.
The 40 contestants were further trimmed to 24. The contestants had to sing solo choosing one of pre-selected songs. Next Saturday is the first performance night, and people get to vote :)
My dad, however, pointed out that Smart (the cell network) was the sponsor. And no way could we use our Globe sim  :(  But I told him a PLDT number would sure be available. Or I was thinking, I could buy a Smart sim card :)
I have some favorites - Freddie (who reminds me of Luke Mijares), Joseph Astor (has an angle where he looks like Sam Milby though Sam still looks more cute), Erika (if I'm not mistaken, she's the girl with the hearing impairment. If all goes well for her, she could be our local Elliot Yamin), Pau (because she's true to herself) and Maureen (just saw her in the Top 40 and she was good).