Now that American Idol has aired on the West Coast, I think it’s safe to blog this:
WOOHOO!!! Sanjaya got voted off!!!
The folks at VoteForTheWorst.com are unhappy, of course, and I’m sure Howard Stern is, too. But the vast majority of Idol’s fan base is relieved, as we can stop fretting about the possibility of Sanyaja (gasp) winning… and stop listening to him sing (or should I say, “sing”) every Tuesday night. If you missed it, here’s the ghastly performance that finally led to his ouster:
For all the hype, controversy, hunger strikes and so forth, Sanjaya didn’t get as far as the last severely under-talented contestant to make it into Idol’s later rounds: Buffalo’s own John Stevens, who wasn’t voted out until the Top 6 show of Season 3, outlasting Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson (who was voted out at the Top 7 stage, which is what last night’s show was). Of course, Sanjaya was significantly worse than John, and also, I think Sanjaya’s fan base was more cynical, voting for him because he was bad, whereas John’s fan base was more delusional, failing to recognize that he was bad. But still.
Anyway, 7 out of 14 contestants in my American Idol pool correctly predicted Sanjaya’s eviction. Only two of them, however — myself and my co-leader, Jay Johnson — picked Sanjaya this week after having never predicted his ouster in any previous week. (Mark Gardner and Kevin Hauschulz had each picked him once before; Marty West, twice; Toni Namnath, three times; and Vicki from NJ, a whopping five times. Heh.)
Updated standings after the jump.
Please note: Due to a tabulation error in Week 3, which I just discovered while making an Excel spreadsheet of the contest, Scott Fort has previously been credited on the blog with a point he did not earn. I’ve corrected the error now, and his point total has been reduced accordingly. Sorry, Scott… and sorry, Vicki, this means you were never actually in last place. :)
Jay Johnson 11*
Brendan Loy 11*
Marty West 8*
Jen Featherston 8
Mark Gardner 7*
Kevin Hauschulz 6*
Toni Namnath 6*
Rebecca Loy 6
Melissa Clouthier 6
Vicki from NJ 5*
Derek Walden 5
Kate Spitz 5
David K. 3
Scott Fort 2
* = correctly picked Sanjaya this week
Incidentally, if Jay and I stay tied for first place, either both getting it right or both getting it wrong for the remainder of the contest, Jay will win based on a tiebreaker dating all the way back to the Top 12 show, the last time one of us was right (him) and the other was wrong (me).
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Categories: American Idol, Video clips
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April 19th, 2007 at 1:37:45 am
It’s like soccer, dude. Playing for the tie.
April 19th, 2007 at 1:46:49 am
Heh. Yes, well, hence the importance of instituting anonymous voting soon, to make strategic voting more difficult. :)
April 19th, 2007 at 2:07:42 am
I’ve just been doing my research on Idol this season instead of Fantasy Baseball. It takes a while to compile all of the data, watch the performances, and decide. I just like to take my time in making a reasoned decision. I’m sure I’ll fail miserably once it becomes an anonymous vote.
BTW, what’s so bad about strategic voting?
April 19th, 2007 at 2:13:36 am
It’s bad because it has the potential to remove the suspense as the field gets narrower, and it takes away from the point of honestly trying to predict who will win. For example, suppose you and I are still tied going into the finale. Whoever you pick, obviously I would need to pick the other person, regardless of whether I actually think they’ll win. Of course, if you act quickly enough, you could then change your vote to match my vote, guaranteeing yourself victory…unless I act even quicker, and change my vote back at the last possible second. Et cetera. None of which has anything to do with the purpose of the contest, which is predict the weekly losers as best we can. As the field narrows, the incentive to vote strategically increases, which is why I think the anonymous system becomes necessary at some point, in order to preserve the whole point of the contest.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:15:54 am
P.S. Anonymity preserves “strategic voting” to a certain extent, but makes it at least more of a challenge. For instance: I would still need to pick a different contestant than you, going into the final week, if we were tied. But since I wouldn’t know for sure who you picked, I’d have to make an educated guess. There’s still the potential for mind-games and such, but in most scenarios, the best answer is going to be for each contestant to simply pick the contestant he/she honestly thinks is going to win, and hope those above them picked otherwise.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:51:12 am
FINALLY!!!
April 19th, 2007 at 9:46:33 am
I’m not last anymore!?! :(
How’d that happen?
April 19th, 2007 at 10:37:33 am
I have to give Sanjaya credit for singing “Let’s give them something to talk about - besides hair.” Heh.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:38:52 am
I also have to give AI credit for how they handled the whole trumped up Simon eye-roll bullshit. Cowell seemed genuinely upset that people would think he was being dismissive of the VTech victims and families.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:11:13 am
Correction, Brendan: the last under-talented contestant who went far deeper in the competition than he had any right to was Scott Savol, season 4. He made it the Top 5 stage, outlasting theater-rocker Constantine and music teacher (!) Anwar, despite not being able to sing his way to a paternity hearing.
No, I’m not sure what that means, but he was just bad.
Jon Stevens was over his head, no doubt (the world’s not ready for a latter-day Rat Pack American Idol), but at least he could stay in key.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:15:00 am
Ha! No problem Brendan. It just gives me an extra point headstart to play low score with Vicki. Race you to the lowest score Vicki. For next week I pick…… Brandon Rogers. :-)
BTW, I believe I can be the first eliminated next week with an incorrect pick by myself or a correct pick by either Brendan or Jay. Of course, David can be eliminated too but I have a much better chance. Vicki will have to wait until the next week.
April 25th, 2007 at 5:31:26 am
I vote for Chris Richardson to be leaving