Steve is back on the road, in one of the X Factor trucks en route to Chicago, the home for the next round of auditions. He reminds us that it's also the hometown of Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson and R. Kelly. Kind of surprised they mentioned her when they usually go out of their way to avoid any word of that other show. People have come from all over the Midwest, only to be greeted with some pretty bad weather.
Steve re-explains the basics of the competition: thousands of auditioners, hoping for a $5 million recording contract, for which they have to impress the judges -- Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid and, in Chicago, Cheryl Cole. There'll be categories of boys, girls, over 30s, and groups. I'm still not comfortable with people in their twenties being referred to as "boys" and "girls."
