It had to be extremely difficult for Jesus Roman to take the stage when his turn came in the AI3 Group Two Semifinals.  In addition to the normal first-night jitters, his little brother Noel had succumbed to nerves just 15 minutes earlier, singing badly off-pitch and receiving some of the harshest criticisms the judges had to offer.  Could the elder Roman hold his emotions in check and earn a spot to the Final12?

No.  Jesus, if possible, looked even more nervous than Noel.  Reviewers wrote that while he may or may not have been more in tune, he was frequently off-tempo and appeared at times to be struggling with the lyrics to Back At One (he sung only the chorus).  Like his brother, Jesus made no attempt to hide his frustration at his performance: he slumped his shoulders as soon as the music stopped, and he faced the judges with a similar sheepish expression.  "Why'd you roll your eyes?" asked Randy good-naturedly.  "Because you know it's coming?"  "That's right," said Jesus...and it certainly did come.  Randy called it "painful", Paula said, "it was almost like you came out defeated," and Simon's only comment was "The good news is that you made your brother sound good."