Wow, that would take FOREVER

I would like to point out that a lot of the bad singers that we see auditioning have been put through to audition BECAUSE they are bad--for entertainment purposes. From my understanding, singing in front of those 3 judges is NOT the very first round of auditions--they must first sing for little unknown network representatives who then say whether or not to send them on to Randy, Paula, and Simon. Otherwise, they would never have time to really audition ALL of the thousands of hopefuls at each location.

And EVERY year, people say Simon is meaner than the year before, but I think if you go back and watch these first audition episodes of any season, you'll see he's not really changed. We just become more used to hearing him give the more constructive criticism in the later rounds, I think

Yes the first auditions are in the stadiums, they show the stadium shots so I don't think they are really hiding that bit. Simon is hilarious, on the X Factor (similar show with added all ages and groups) in the UK, he said a female trio looked like before, during and after of weight watchers, that made me howl and I'm bigger than any of the trio. They all must know what they are getting into when they audition by now!