Ron Wilson Needs To Tone Down His Persona

He may have the talent but right now he's just a bit too showy and obnoxious to win. That's how I felt about the first audition of "Big" Ron Wilson on Season 14 of American Idol. Big Ron, or "Big Sexy" as he likes the ladies to call him, started his journey on the show with the episode listening in on him telling his family that he was looking forward to meeting Jennifer Lopez and essentially wooing her. "She's had the Puff Daddy's and the Ben Affleck's, but she's never had the Big Ron," he said confidently and a little too arrogantly before he went into the room. AI host Ryan Seacrest asked him how he was feeling about going into a room with these three judges, and he said he was wondering more about how the judges felt about being in a room with him. Yup. That's what we dealt with on Wednesday.

As he walked into the room with Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr, and Keith Urban, he didn't care about the men. He didn't even address them. He was just focused on JLo. And to be honest, when he started to perform his audition piece, which was of course a song from Marvin Gaye, he lost me when he continued to refuse to address or even sing to the men.

To be honest, the whole thing felt a little disrespectful and icky. So Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban did exactly what I would have done in their situation: They made jokes about the situation. They acted as if they weren't in the room and cracked jokes to each other, but of course they were still listening to the actual audition.

Jennifer Lopez fell for the whole shtick in a second and told Wilson that she loved him. She also told the boys that they didn't listen to Big Ron's audition and Big Ron of course had to add that he thought it was rude but didn't care. The contestant still got enough yes votes to send him to Hollywood but I don't see him having a lot more luck out there as the judges are bound to get a lot more tough with their critics. And I don't see Big Ron being able to take Harry Connick Jr.'s very sound advice: To find the balance between voice/talent and showmanship. Because right now, there's too much attitude and not enough to the audition to back it all up.

Images: Fox (screenshot)