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I'd like to expand on what Aspects13 said, and break down the various screwings, in roughly chronological order. Here they are:

1) Contestants who sang great without being sent to Hollywood/passed through to the next round/picked for the semis: TOO MANY T0 MENTION.

2) Contestants who sang great in the semis in seasons 1,2,3, and 8, without being picked for the Wildcard: Lisa Leuschner and her 3 forgotten cohorts in season 3 deserve special mention, because they WERE picked and then weren't allowed to to sing. But all of these seasons have other examples: Kristen, Felicia and Ju'not being good ones from this year.

3) Contestants who sang great in the Wildcard and then didn't get picked for the finals: there were more in previous seasons than this year (Chip Days, Suzy Vulaca, etc) but Ricky & Tatiana fans can plausibly argue they deserved to be sent through.

4) Contestants who got LITERALLY screwed in the ass by the judges/AI producers: this would explain better than anything else how utterly talent-free singers like Megan Corkrey and Leah Labelle got picked FOR and then FROM the Wildcard, without ever once giving a decent performance. However, since I don't know for sure that this happened, I'll just bring it up as a possibility (I am also amazed that nobody else has said this even though we're up to page 4).

5) Contestants who got no airtime and then were voted off early: ANYBODY who was never heard singing before they made the semis can convincingly argue they'd been screwed, even if the judges then gave them mostly favorable comments. The early show episodes are mostly edited after the semifinalists are picked, and there's no reason not to show everybody. Most of these contestants don't get very far even if they are good (Sabrina Sloan, Melissa McGhee and Stephanie Edwards being examples).

6) Contestants who were screwed by being forced to sing bad songs: Alexandrea Lushington last season is the best example of this (though her cargo pants didn't help). Elliot Yamin was stuck with a good but little-known song on top 3 night, which surely kept him out of the finals in a nail-bitingly close vote.

7) Contestants in the finals and semifinals who were constantly dissed by the judges, leading to their premature voting off: this is the single biggest complaint of this thread, and it really is a long, sad list that includes people from every season. Jennifer was dissed by the judges early; they were good to her the last 3 weeks she was on, but it was too late. The judges are often way too nasty to Anoop, which WILL get him voted off prematurely. We all have lots of examples.

8) Contestants who WERE dissed by the judges, but came through without any harm: this includes a few people brought up here. Syesha WAS saddled with the silly Happy Feet song on top 3 night, but she wouldn't have made it to the finals anyway unless one of the Davids had a complete meltdown. Vonzell was in an analogous situation on her top 3 night. David Cook was dissed by Simon in last year's finale, but won anyway (at least Simon apologized for it). As for Jason, it's unclear to me how the judges dissed him in any way. He finished with 5 consecutive rotten performances, was rightly criticized for them, and outlasted his proper stay on the show by two weeks.

9) Contestants who were screwed after the season was over: blaming Nikki McKibbon for his beloved Tamyra's departure, Simon vindictively criticized her in interviews for years, whch helped ensure that nobody would sign her to a recording contract.

You're right, he was a dumb example to use, even though I liked him. I hadn't thought it through. The people who were really screwed that week were three really good women (Hadas Shalev, Equoia and Candice Coleman) who not only didn't get picked to be in the Wildcard, but had been passed over in favor of three other women (including Caaaaarmen) who hasn't even made it to the semis!