The top 12 finalists in the 2010 Tastee Talent Trail departed Kingston on Monday, October 4, for Breezes, Trelawny, full of hope and anticipation.

Seventy-two hours later, only eight remained as the Trail heads towards the first of three grooming eliminations and the grand finals in Kingston.

The reality segment of this year's Tastee Talent Trail was filmed over three days at the picturesque Breezes Rio Bueno where the contestants were judged on two performances on Monday and Tuesday nights by judges Oral Tracy, Audrey Reid and Amelia 'Milk' Sewell.

The first performance on Monday night saw each contestant giving one performance. They were judged on Interpretation, Range, Use of Stage, Impact/Crowd Appeal.

At the end of this performance they were critiqued by the judges and sent off to their rooms.

Early Tuesday morning they were summoned before the judges, who informed them that two persons would be eliminated.

The first two causalities were DJ Fabian Fletcher from Savanna-la-Mar and Shannon Townsend from May Pen.

With the mood now very different among the remaining contestants, improved performances were the order of the day on Tuesday night, as they performed in a cabaret format with each person doing two presentations.

They were again judged along the same lines as the first night and on Wednesday morning the axe fell on RM from Kingston and Sharon Thompson, who hails from Montego Bay. Those who remained for the November 24 first grooming elimination are Romario English, Jermaine Bryan, Lorna Gordon, Shelly-Dean Bartley, COLAS, Andre Lee, Supreme Blazers and Crisna Brown.

These eight will continue grooming in Montego Bay and Kingston before moving into studio rehearsals with Unique Vision band.

The grand finals unfolds on Thursday, December 16, at the Tastee Open Air Theatre in Cross Roads as the contestants vie for $1 million first prize, $250,000 second, $50,000 third, and a number of high-end cellphones from Claro.