'American Idol' Season 18 Episode 3: Meet Courtney Timmons, the security guard with a sense of serendipity
The latest season of 'American Idol' is now underway on the ABC network. This is the singing competition's third season on ABC and its 18th season overall. We got a chance to catch up with all the old faces from last season, including the show's full-time mentor Bobby Bones, the ageless host Ryan Seacrest and our endearing favorites from last season, the wise, all-powerful and benevolent judges — Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
On March 1 night's Episode 3, we were treated to yet another high-octane mix of passion, flair and authentic singing talent, but one name that really stood out on the list was Courtney Timmons, a 22-year-old security guard from Harris Neck in Georgia. Unfortunately, she had been turned away from the audition and was just waiting around, but then came one of the show's most pivotal moments this season.
In an unprecedented, serendipitous turn of events, Seacrest discovered Courtney sitting despondently by herself in a corner. She had missed the deadline for the audition round, but was determined to not let that scupper her chances.
Courtney decided to stick around all day. Her plan was to wait until everyone had left before returning and pleading for one chance to show what she could do. As luck would have it, Seacrest just saw her sitting there moping around and decided to take a chance on her. True to his word (and in a first for the show), Seacrest managed to get the young singing hopeful a chance to audition in front of the judges without any preliminary audition process, and Courtney proved that it was one of the show's inspired decisions this year.
Singing Andra Day's 'Rise Up', Courtney showed no hint of nerves or star-struck syndrome, conjuring up a powerful, moving rendition of the song.
She was so good that the judges actually thought that they were punked. Once they realized that she was the real deal and that this had been her lifelong dream, they unanimously gave her the golden ticket to Hollywood (moving them and the Seacrest to tears of joy). Katy Perry even said that she was one of the best singers that they had heard on the competition all day. The fans on social media certainly agreed.
"Courtney you Kicked ass! Georgia grown!" said one excited fan, who also said that "The girl sliced that song like a Japanese Master Chef!"
Another viewer pointed out, "Courtney is a prime example of being at the right place at the right time" and plenty more fans were pleasantly surprised that the show had decided to take a chance on the young singer.
"Courtney's acapella is magnificent! She can give Beyonce some singing lessons!" said another enthusiastic supporter. With encouragement like this, we are pretty sure this young singing sensation is going to do extremely well in the rounds ahead. Brb, need some tissues.