TV URBAN LEGEND: A TV singing competition show tricked its live audience into believing that the contestants were all fatally ill.

In honor of April Fool's Day, I figured I'd do a legend involving a notable TV prank!

While The Voice remains very popular and it is not like the return of American Idol hasn't been doing okay in and of itself (not quite as good as The Voice, but it is surprisingly pretty competitive), nothing was quite like the popularity of American Idol in the early 2000s. It saw ratings that people could barely dream of achieving. Remember how excited people were over the ratings that the first episode of the Roseanne comeback received? Those ratings were amazing. American Idol at its peak DOUBLED those ratings. It was the #1 show among viewers 18-49 (AKA the demographic that advertisers care about the most) for a remarkable SEVEN years in a row! It was huge.

It was so huge that there were lots and lots of shows that debuted in attempts to siphon off some of that popularity. Even American Idol themselves tried an "American Idols Juniors" show (one of the winners from that season is currently a popular actress, Lucy Hale).

Perhaps the most twisted show that debuted in reaction to American Idol was The WB's Superstar USA from 2004. Hosted by Brian McFayden, the concept of the show was to do an ANTI-American Idol, so a trio of judges (including Tone Loc and Vitamin C, so actual professional recording artists) would seek out the WORST singer. They would pretend that good singers were bad and bad singers were good.

Then they would give the bad singers makeovers, choreographers, etc. - all designed to trick them into thinking that they were actually good.

Mike Fleiss, the producer of the show, described it as, "It's a show that probably shouldn't have been made because it's just that mean and nasty, but God, it is fun to watch."

Someone on YouTube put up literally the entire series (it was just seven episodes)...

The winner was an attractive young woman named Jamie Foss.

She was interviewed by TV Guide after the show, where they revealed to her after she won that it was all a big prank...

TV Guide Online: So, Jamie, now that you know the show made a laughingstock of you, do you even want to do this interview?

Jamie: Of course I do! I'm very happy with the outcome. Seriously, I do not care at all that it was a joke. This is just, like, an unbelievable experience!

TVGO: Well, okay! Did you start to suspect that you were the victim of a hoax during your duet with runner-up Mario?

Jamie: When I heard Mario sing, I was kind of like, "Whoa! What is going on here?!" I was thinking he'd be this phenomenal singer, because you know, he didn't really have the image that was, um, you know, kind of... [Struggles to think of a nice way to say Mario's Swan material, then finally blurts out:] I thought he would be kind of like Clay Aiken! So I was kind of asking questions in my head, but then, at the same time, I was like, "Whatever. I'm going to win!" So I just blew it off.

TVGO: And when you finally were clued in, how did you feel? You handled it pretty well, I have to say.

Jamie: My reaction was definitely fine. I was a little shocked, and there was a kind of frustration. But then I thought about it, and, like, a minute later, I was like, "This has been the time of my life. I would have done it even if I had known it was a joke!" I mean, I got to work with choreographers, I got a makeover, I was in Hollywood for three weeks... It was awesome!

TVGO: So I guess you're still going to do an album, huh?

Jamie: Yeah, I don't really know what's going on with that. I'd like to get some training and get out maybe a really good album. I don't know what plans [the powers that be have for] the album. No idea! But I don't want people to laugh at me, you know? Kind of like a William Hung thing. When you hear his song on the radio, you just sort of laugh at it. I really would like to be taken seriously, so that's why I'd like to get some training. And you know, recording studios can make anybody sound really good.

TVGO: Oh, we know — we saw Britney's concert. Now, as you watched the show and heard yourself perform, what did you think?

Jamie: I definitely was kind of shocked. I was, like, "Oh my gosh! Am I really that bad?" But I mean, people have to put [what they heard] in perspective. If you just listen to the quality of the music in the background and the microphones and all that stuff, you'll see that this is not "The Best of Jamie." There is way better than that. I've heard myself sing on tape before, so I know I can do better than what they showed on TV!

Now, could she have been in on the prank, as well? Sure. I could believe that she is just lying in the above interview. She seems genuine, but I can't say for sure. I could easily believe that all of the contestants were in on it and just wanted to be on TV. Plenty of the goofiest contestants on American Idol, after all, were clearly doing it for the publicity.

However, the show had one aspect they couldn't really fake - the audience that watched the show. They were afraid that they would boo the contestants. How to fix it? They pretended that the singers were all DYING!!

When the news got out to local reporters in Los Angeles (where it taped), the WB had to apologize to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Fleiss, however, explained what actually happened, "First of all, it was me. But I did not say 'Make-A-Wish.' I said, 'Who's heard of the One Wish Foundation?' and people raised their hands. There is no One Wish Foundation. It was a prank on top of a prank. It was the only way to get it to work."

Gross.

The legend is...

STATUS: True

Thanks to Ann Oldenburg and USA Today for the Fleiss quotes.

Be sure to check out my archive of TV Legends Revealed for more urban legends about the world of TV.

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com.