Sanjaya Malakar, the American Idol contestant with Indian links, will continue in the show and he is among the seven finalists.
Wednesday night, the magic finally ran out for the ousted contestant, Haley Scarnato, who as per judge Simon Cowell was using her curve-hugging, leg-baring attire as a tactic to stay in the competition.
Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson had the next-lowest vote tallies in the phone balloting, which drew more than 35 million calls and text messages.
Sanjaya Malakar auditioned for American Idol on September 19, 2006 (just 9 days after his 17th birthday). When the Seattle American Idol Auditions aired on January 17, 2007, Sanjaya and his sister Shyamali Malakar became famous overnight as the siblings on American Idol. Their father was a classic Indian (East) musician. Sanjaya credits him for giving them their American Idol-worthy voices.
Sanjaya has been a butt of criticism through the competition. He has been at the receiving end for lack of singing qualities or stage presence and his gender identity is considered vague at best. Sanjaya’s parents Vivek and Vidhya immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1972 and started a small telecom services company called MalakarTelco. After over 25 years of modest success, the company hit it big in 1999 when it started handling telephone entries for ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’
In its sixth season, American Idol continues to rule the ratings. It has attracted 26 million to 37 million viewers per telecast this season. Yes, that means the Sanjaya phenomenon continues.
Via: CNN
