Michael Becker / FOX

It was the final audition of Tuesday night's Denver show, a spot that is usually reserved for amazing talent, when we first met "Bikini Boy" aka 25-year-old Ty Hemmerling. The audition left plenty of people saying, 'Wait, is this guy for real?'

Well, the Denver radio station intern has come clean and admits it was just a prank. Furthermore, Ty says "Idol" producers were well aware of his elaborate scheme.

“They pretty much knew why I was there, and they made sure I knew that they knew — like, ‘You know why we’re putting you through, don’t you?’” Ty recalled. ”One of the first questions they asked me on the first day was if I worked for the media. And before I could even answer, they said, ‘Don’t lie, because we’ll find out.’ So I said, ‘This is what I do.’”

Hemmerling says he never expected to make it all the way to the judges. “I thought I’d maybe get my picture taken in front of 12,000 people at Invesco,” he said. ” But the producers said that if Ty could keep quiet about the stunt until the episode aired that he could sing in front of the judges. “They said, ‘Keep your mouth shut. If you can do that, we’ll send you through.’”

But Hemmerling, who wore his girlfriend’s bikini at the auditions, says we might see him again. He hopes to be invited back for the finale. “Maybe I can squeeze out fifteen-and-a-half minutes of fame.”

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites