'American Idol' Audience Member Saves Singer from Elimination in Tearjerking Moment

When Fire's duet partner became too ill to sing, 'American Idol' judge Katy Perry calls for help.

American Idol’s Hollywood Week’s Duet Night was fraught with more drama than usual. Platinum Ticket holder Cam Amen almost lost his partner—and his chance to make it through to Showstoppers—when J Valerione was overwhelmed and left the competition the night of rehearsals. Luckily, J came to his senses and returned the next morning. But during their performance, Cam had a bit of a meltdown on stage, pulling it together just enough that the judges put them both through.

Also, Adin Boyer, who suffers from social anxiety, had a freak out when the Idols had to pick their own partners, and since there was an odd number of artists, he ended up without one. But Jayna Elise and Summer Joy volunteered to let him join their group, becoming the only trio of the night— and they all made it into the next Showstoppers round.

But then Fire, who had to audition twice in order to get her Golden Ticket to Hollywood, lost her partner Kaya Stewart to illness, and she was in tears when the judges asked for a volunteer from the audience to sing Adam Lambert’s “What Do You Want From Me” with her. Again, it was Jayna Elise to the rescue.

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Fire and Kaya hadn’t even heard each other sing when they teamed up for the Duets portion of Hollywood Week, despite both making it through to Hollywood at the Nashville auditions.

“Ever since we introduced ourselves, we’ve been on the same page about everything, and it’s so nice,” Fire said.

“We’re young women who have really big goals and big voices and you’ll find that out when we sing,” Kaya added.

But then, after a positive start, overnight things took a turn for the worse when Kaya got sick.

“Everything originally was amazing when Kaya and I were rehearsing this morning, going through things and figuring our plan,” Fire said. “Then throughout the day, she started getting sicker and sicker. She started to get a fever and she couldn’t remember the words. It was less and less progress. We were going in the opposite direction.”

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When they took the stage, Kaya shocked the judges—Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan—when she announced that she wouldn’t be singing.

“I got sick at the beginning of Hollywood Week and I have been trying to push myself to keep going,” she said. “During this performance, I got to work with Fire, and it was such a great experience. She’s so talented and so incredible. We bonded so much, but I realized I wasn’t able to give 100 percent, so I’ve decided not to perform, but Fire’s going to perform. I am grateful that I got to be here. Thank you, but I’m not going to be performing.”

That, of course, meant that Kaya was out of the competition. She broke down in tears as she walked off stage.

Katy asked Fire how she was feeling.

The 23-year-old single mom, who is a product of the foster care system, also started crying, saying, “It’s been really stressful. It was a lot of stress for me to learn the different arrangement and then to come out here.”

Katy called for a volunteer to sing with Fire. Jayna Elise ran on stage.

Katy said, “Fire, you’re not going to be abandoned anymore.”

Fire broke down during the song, but recovered enough to make it through. Katy, too, started to cry.

“I’m proud of you,” Katy said. “You’re growing, little by little. You can’t control a lot, but you can control yourself. You can control your future. Thank you for standing up here and continuing to try. Thank you for singing. Thank you for not forfeiting. Thank you for fighting. And in this moment, we get to control a little bit of your future. You are going forward, Fire.”

“I am so proud I didn’t quit because I think a lot of people would. I am just going to keep fighting for my spot here,” Fire said.

Now it’s on to the Showstoppers next Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT when American Idol airs on ABC.

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