They probably should have added the gong for American Idol.
Anyway, there is a huge scandal exploding on American Idol regarding yesterday's British Invasion Night. One of the American Idol performers, Sanjaya Malakar, sang the British tune You Really Got Me, written by Ron Davies and originally performed by The Kinks. This is Sanjaya Malakar's version of You Really Got Me, performed on American Idol:
I know you're asking the big question here--who's the girl crying as Sanjaya is singing? Well, The Los Angeles Times has your answer:
First things first: Who was the crying girl? After the show, I chatted with Idol’s newest superstar, the crying girl, Ashley Ferl, aged 13, from Riverside. For some long minutes after the show, Ashley remained in a state of inconsolable sobbing, unable to choke out a single word. However, through an interpreter (her mother) we were eventually able to learn some facts about the young superstar.
The family, I was told, obtained tickets on a website to attend a taping of “Smarter Than a 5th Grader” a day passage that included not just the taping of the show itself, but also the dress rehearsal of either “Grader” or “Idol.” The fates were kind, and the mother and daughter found their way to the “Idol” rehearsal, where Ashley’s waterworks began. Her prowess was quickly brought to the attention of “Idol” producers who summoned the clan to a ringside seat of honor at the final taping.
Her powers of speech slowly returning, Ashley revealed that while she was on stage she had been thinking that “this was the coolest thing ever.” Asked whom she was supporting in the competition she named “Sanjaya, Melinda, Gina and Jordin” as her picks, refusing to narrow her vote down to a single choice. All my journalistic powers of persuasion, cajoling, bullying and insistence that on her vote might turn the entire competition, that “Listen to reason, young Ferl, there can’t be four American Idols,” would not convince her to name a single favorite. To my every argument, she would only repeat her mantra, “All Four: Sanjaya, Melinda, Gina and Jordin.” And so the race begins in earnest, with tears at every step of the way.
So if I'm getting this straight, 13-year-old Ashley Ferl and her family gets tickets to attend the taping of the game show "Smarter Than a 5th Grader." In addition to the tickets, Ashley also gets to attend a dress rehearsal of American Idol, for which she is so excitedly happy, that she turns on the waterworks. I have no criticism against Ashley Ferl--it is obvious that she is an American Idol fan. And by a lucky coincidence, she was able to see a rehearsal of one of her favorite shows. What I am amazed at is how quickly the Idol producers took an interest in her by providing the ringside seats for Ashley and her family, thus ensuring that little Ashley Ferl would be the perfect hyped-up, little teenage girl to scream and cry over these latest "British Invasion" pop stars--I mean we're talking a perfectly staged TV drama here!
And it is one of the problems that American Idol has--scandals after scandals after scandals. Just about every season the show has been on, there have been scandals associated with the series. Consider this list:
American Idol has come under fire for maintaining what some claim to be total control of the careers of the winners of the contest. Former co-host Brian Dunkleman referred to the show as "owning" the winning contestants, noting that winners sign contracts to only record with companies owned by the show's producers and to allow related agencies to manage their careers.
Former contestant Corey Clark told reporters in April 2005 that he and Idol judge Paula Abdul had a "secret affair" prompting an investigation by external counsel hired by Fox, FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment. The 600-hour investigation spanning three months cleared Abdul of all charges levied by Clark.
During season three, controversy arose at the poor showing during the semi-finals of three highly praised African-American contestants, Jennifer Hudson, LaToya London and Fantasia Barrino - collectively known during that season as the 'Three Divas'. After the surprise elimination of Hudson, Sir Elton John, who was a guest judge for that season criticized the vote as 'incredibly racist' in a press conference. The elimination of both Hudson and London relatively early in the competition has been pointed out as a classic demonstration of vote-splitting in the American idol vote. Barrino would eventually go on to win the competition.
Since the 2004 season, American Idol producers have battled online community services such as the weblogs DialIdol.com, Worldsentiment.com, and VotefortheWorst.com. DialIdol predicts the winner of each week's contest based on how often an automatic dialer encounters a busy signal for each contestant; Worldsentiment uses very large samplings and algorithms to predict the outcome of the vote-off; and VotefortheWorst exhorts viewers to vote for what the site deems to be the worst contestant, rather than the best. Some in the media have implied that Las Vegas odds makers exert behind-the-scenes influence in protecting the services.
A series of provocative photos surfaced on the Internet of Season 6 Top 24 Contestant Antonella Barba.
And there are even more controversies and scandals that can be found here in a separate Wikipedia entry just on the American Idol controversies--everything from voting problems, to contestants having criminal records, to even a contestant having an affair with judge Paula Abdul.
What is even more crazy is that the show continues to attract viewers. The premier episode of Season Six attracted 37.3 million viewers--which was up over last year's 35.5 million viewers. And this is with all the controversies American Idol has generated. It is just incredible.
I think I would stick with The Gong Show:
GONG!
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