[Ksyrup]

There's a direct correlation between pre-top 24 face time and success in the competition. There are 4-5 people who have pretty much no shot at winning, or even doing well. Perhaps one or two of them will distinguish themselves early and hang on for a bit, but several people have done an "analysis" (for lack of a better term) of face time and finish, and the correlation is pretty much dead-on. Of course, there are several guys who got pretty much no face time, so I guess a couple of them will have to stick around for a few weeks just by the nature of the competition. Given the clear advantage it brings, they should really make an attempt to do a small feature on all of the eventual top 24 at some point before they are actually selected.