Fil-Am bet in AI group round

MANILA, Philippines - The auditions are over and the highly-anticipated Hollywood Round kicked off last week in American Idol — shown locally on Q-11.

This week, Season 10’s red-hot talents — including Fil-Am Thia Megia, 15, who wowed judges and audiences during the Milwaukee auditions — will continue to battle it out to survive the Group Round.

Megia’s fellow audition standouts include Scott McCreery, the 16-year-old country crooner with the deep voice, Molly DeWolfe Swensen, the Harvard grad who sang a smokin’ version of (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, Chris Medina who had a heartbreaking story about his girlfriend suffering from brain injury after an accident, Rob Bolin and Chelsea Oaks, the former sweethearts, and 22-year-old Adrienne Beasley who gave a moving version of Lady Antebellum’s American Honey.

The Idol hopefuls will all face tough competition and the dreaded Group Round where they will have to impress judges Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler while performing as a group.

This phase of the competition seems to be pushing everyone close to the breaking point. The fabulous Gutierrez brothers — Mark and Aaron, who impressed with their Glee-like version of Lean on Me during the Los Angeles auditions — seemed to be such even-tempered guys but clips from the Group Round show them very upset and in a fighting mood. What could have set them off?

Who will survive the Group Round? Who will make the judges say, “You just gave the performance of your life right there”?

New stars will emerge. Catch Fil-Am Thia Megia and the other Idol talented hopefuls only in American Idol, the biggest talent show in the world. American Idol airs Thursdays and Fridays, 6 p.m. (with same day replays at 8 p.m.) and 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.