Live? Real? For American Idol, it's all relative.

If Only Reality Were as Organized as ‘American Idol’: "A mystery that has occurred to at least one frequent viewer of “American Idol” is just how the show manages to draw so many homogeneously attractive, well-dressed women to pack the mosh pit, where they produce high-pitched squeals that could probably perk up the ears of dogs in the San Fernando Valley.

The answer: They are recruited.

In early April it was the turn of the women of Alpha Phi, a sorority at the University of California, Los Angeles. About 25 members trekked to the studio one Tuesday, said Rachel Lorack, a member from Half Moon Bay, Calif., and another two dozen were to attend the following week. Last week it was the Delta Gamma and Delta Delta Delta sororities.

The perk is a recruitment tool for some sororities as well. “We sometimes talk about this at rush,” said Courtney Lauwereins, a member from Laguna Beach, Calif. “Join Alpha Phi, and you might get to go to ‘American Idol.’ ”

The show, of course, does not just throw a bevy of sorority women in front of the cameras and allow them to cluster as they may. Stage assistants choose specific women and place them where the hand-held cameras will swoop during performances."

I wonder who they're told to scream the loudest for? Any guesses?