Spring Break
The Daily Orange'Idol' Internet scheme demonstrates meaning of fans' votes
By Dave Arey
Posted: 3/29/07, 1:13 AM EST Section: Opinion
In the sixth season of "American Idol," the question on the mind of Simon Cowell is the same as that on the minds of many Americans: How long can Sanjaya Malakar possibly last?
Malakar may go down in history as one of the worst singers in Idol history, with consistently off-key renditions of everything from Stevie Wonder to The Kinks. In addition, the 17-year-old's long hair and teenage wardrobe may impress young girls, but not the judges. Cowell has even said that he will leave if Malakar wins.
However, despite his childish demeanor and lack of singing skills, Malakar is not only surviving the competition, he's thriving. Last week, fan voting showed he was not even in the bottom three contestants out of 11.
No one is sure how Malakar remains on the show. One popular rumor speculates that votes pass through a call center in his native India, where operators could be skewing the results. However, there is an even more unlikely answer - Howard Stern.
Stern, along with the Web site votefortheworst.com, has started a campaign through his satellite radio show (which has around 5 million listeners) for Malakar. It is impossible to tell how much of an impact Stern or the Web site has had, but their campaign is very unorthodox because it is based on how bad the singer is.
Stern's reasoning is that seeing Malakar win would be very funny and "shake up" the show. He has some history of similar pranks. After all, in 1998 he had his listeners rig People magazine's online voting for "Most Beautiful People" so that one of his staff members, "Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf," would win.
However, votefortheworst.com has different reasons. The Web site, which endorsed winner Taylor Hicks last year, has said that the show is disingenuous about both its voting process and its contestants. According to founder Dave Della Terza, it retains bad contestants to ensure drama.
"'American Idol' lets really untalented singers into their cast," Della Terza wrote on the Web site. "These people are placed in the competition for ratings, because they wouldn't be there if this was a legitimate competition to find the next big superstar."
Malakar may go down in history as one of the worst singers in Idol history, with consistently off-key renditions of everything from Stevie Wonder to The Kinks. In addition, the 17-year-old's long hair and teenage wardrobe may impress young girls, but not the judges. Cowell has even said that he will leave if Malakar wins.
However, despite his childish demeanor and lack of singing skills, Malakar is not only surviving the competition, he's thriving. Last week, fan voting showed he was not even in the bottom three contestants out of 11.
No one is sure how Malakar remains on the show. One popular rumor speculates that votes pass through a call center in his native India, where operators could be skewing the results. However, there is an even more unlikely answer - Howard Stern.
Stern, along with the Web site votefortheworst.com, has started a campaign through his satellite radio show (which has around 5 million listeners) for Malakar. It is impossible to tell how much of an impact Stern or the Web site has had, but their campaign is very unorthodox because it is based on how bad the singer is.
Stern's reasoning is that seeing Malakar win would be very funny and "shake up" the show. He has some history of similar pranks. After all, in 1998 he had his listeners rig People magazine's online voting for "Most Beautiful People" so that one of his staff members, "Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf," would win.
However, votefortheworst.com has different reasons. The Web site, which endorsed winner Taylor Hicks last year, has said that the show is disingenuous about both its voting process and its contestants. According to founder Dave Della Terza, it retains bad contestants to ensure drama.
"'American Idol' lets really untalented singers into their cast," Della Terza wrote on the Web site. "These people are placed in the competition for ratings, because they wouldn't be there if this was a legitimate competition to find the next big superstar."
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