Plot Summary:

The season 5 selection process appears to carry over that of the past two seasons, but the Las Vegas Round was changed to that of the second and third seasons, which gave the performers a second chance to showcase their act. Instead of an audition consisting of performers who submitted their acts on MySpace, as has been done in previous seasons, the year contained a quarterfinal made up of twelve acts who submitted their auditions on YouTube (eleven selected by the judges and one selected by online voters). Because of the inclusion of an additional quarterfinal, only four acts were selected to move on each week, instead of five. Additionally, there was also a separate wild card show (the first since Season 1), consisting of acts brought back by the judges to perform after being originally eliminated in either Las Vegas Week or previous quarterfinals. The semifinal consisted of 24 acts this year. Ten of the 24 passed through to the Top 10 round, from which six were eliminated, leaving four to compete in the finals.