American Idol hopefuls face trouble back home

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Twin brothers whose videotaped performance on Fox TV's "American Idol" earned them a trip to Hollywood face trouble back home in Memphis, with one of them in jail at the time the show aired, police said on Thursday.

It seems doubtful Terrell and Derrell Brittenum, 28, will make the next round of the top-rated show after their taped Chicago audition drew praise from "American Idol's" panel of judges.

Terrell could not even watch himself on the show that aired on Tuesday because he was sitting in the Shelby County jail, where he has been held on charges of forgery and theft by deception since January 10, Shelby County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Shular said.

"Unfortunately, he didn't have access to the (jail) television at the time," Shular said.

The twins' mother called police to say Derrell would turn himself in, but he had yet to do so and was being sought by authorities, Shular said.

The charges relate to the purchase of a car in June in Rockdale County, Georgia, where the brothers are suspected of using another man's identity.

A spokesman for the television show would not comment on the "personal lives of their contestants," or on future episodes. Early episodes focus on tryouts around the country to select semifinalists who come to Hollywood to compete in weekly elimination rounds. The winner gets a shot at fame and a recording contract.


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