SANJAYA MALAKAR TO HIRE BODYGUARD

Sanjaya Malakar : Whats with the painted eyebrows ?

The former “American Idol” contestant Sanjaya Malakar who was finally voted off Wednesday night, believes things, his status in fact, have changed so much that he intends to hire a bodyguard. "I'm definitely ready to hire a bodyguard," he says. "I'm actually looking into that right now."In an interview the morning after his elimination, the one who once threatened the integrity and purpose of the talent show, told reporters that he got an education throughout the competition, and plans to pursue a career in music and acting. Looking tired but relentlessly upbeat about his "Idol" experience, he said the other competitors were like a second family to him. "Everyone [on the show] is a family, we really, truly are very close. The hardest part of leaving was losing this extended part of my family." His time on the show was equivalent to his junior and senior years of high school. He dropped out of high school after his sophomore year and later obtained a GED. "Throughout the competition I grew as a performer and as a person," he said. "I had a lot of things to learn from. I kind of found myself as things progressed. I found myself and got more comfortable in my own skin." "I was just focused on trying to get past each week, I didn't look too far into the future and didn't want to overwhelm myself," said Sanjaya. "I feel like I've grown, and I'm more confident because I have this experience. Practice makes perfect, and I'm ready to get out there and sing some more." However, just like other Idol contestants before him, Sanjaya said he had a hunch about Wednesday’s night boot. "When I saw the show, I had a feeling. I was in the dumps all day on Wednesday and I kind of knew," said Sanjaya. "I'm not a country singer,” he said of his Bonnie Raitt’s “Something To Talk About” performance, “I think that really took a toll on me, and I didn't have enough really strong performances to have people forgive me for that." Idol judge Randy Jackson had thought it was "really just like karaoke... bland and boring;" Paula Abdul had called Malakar a "loveable guy" who "thrives on adversity;" while Simon Cowell slammed his performance as “utterly horrendous" and added it was "as bad as anything we see at the beginning of American Idol." "I'm beginning to sense something here," a grinning Cowell added when Malakar ended up among the last three. When the result was announced, Malakar wiped away tears and got a big hug from LaKisha Jones, the next lowest vote-getter. "I'm fine," he told Ryan Seacrest. "It was an amazing experience." "I can promise you: We won't soon forget you," Seacrest replied. While most people believe it was the “American Idol” haters who kept Sanjaya on the show for so long, the 17-year-old Indian thinks it was his fans alone who voted for him. "I don't think votefortheworst or Howard Stern had enough people voting for me to make a dent in anything. I think the reason why I'm here is the support of my fans." Speaking about the Idol contestants and the outside world, Sanjaya said they are kept busy and isolated. "We're in a bubble . . . . I got inklings every once in a while of something different going on that I guess was a cultural phenomenon, but I don't think it really has hit me yet how big it is."

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AMERICA'S OBSESSION WITH AMERICAN IDOL SANJAYA MALAKAR IS GOING STRONG

Sanjaya Malakar has taken America by storm !

While many may consider him vocally challenged, there is no doubt that Sanjaya Malakar is becoming the biggest obsession of Americans that is making its way into national political debate. While presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is asked if she would vote for the 'American Idol' wannabe, one of the leading newspapers, the Los Angeles Times, ponders in an editorial 'What's Saving Sanjaya?'During a radio call-in on Wokq-FM, the New York Senator was asked what the United States can do about Sanjaya, the television show's underdog who has confounded his critics by surviving deep into the voting on this season's program."That's the best question I've been asked in a long time," Clinton said. "Well, you know, people can vote for whomever they want. That's true in my election, and it's true on American Idol". Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined the national bandwagon when she appeared on NBC's 'Tonight Show' with Jay Leno, where she apologised for being late. She'd had to cast a critical vote, she explained to the late-night talk-show host. Leno said he understood democracy takes precedence, but Pelosi said it wasn't that - she had to cast a vote for 'American Idol' contestant Sanjaya Malakar.Everyone seems to have a theory about what's behind this season's Sanjaya surprise. Some say it is the teenyboppers who are in love with Sanjaya's flowing locks, while others blame shock Jock Howard Stern and other such people who are promoting Sanjaya to wreck the credibility of the program, which is watched by some 30 million people. Another conspiracy theory making round is that Indians working in call centers are flooding the phone lines in support of the 17-year-old Indian-American.The Los Angeles Times explains that Sanjaya is the lightning rod of this year's show, may be because "he's such a good sport"."Although all idol contestants must suffer public judgment with a smile, Malakar's grin seems to be that of an ingenuous, bewildered kid instead of a well-coached contestant. His flamboyance such as that surprise Trojan-helmet-like 'ponyhawk' hairstyle is tempered by a timidity rarely seen on national TV," the paper said in the editorial."Malakar may win nothing more than a hair-product endorsement. But he will have shown that even in a genre dependent on egomaniacs who display highly scripted humility, a plain old good sport can survive for a while".Whatever be the reason, the controversy is proving to be good for the TV reality show. As one TV network put it "whatever effects these things have, if any, Sanjaya is now officially the most interesting thing about 'American Idol'. He is not the best singer, the best dancer, or the most engaging personality. But Sanjaya has in some ways begun to embrace those things that people ridicule, and that makes him far more remarkable than the assortment of cardboard cutouts alongside him".

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HALEY SCARNATO THROWN OFF WHILE SANJAYA MALAKAR CONTINUES TO ROCK !

Haley Scarnato leaves American Idol

This year’s “American Idol” gets closer to an end, but another contestant, Haley Scarnato, got voted off the show while Sanjaya Malakar continues to rock and roll into the hearts of America. Failing to impress the judges with her performance of disco classic “Turn the Beat Around,” the 24-year-old from San Antonio left the show saying "My life changed and it truly was a blessing and I'm very thankful." She vows to continue her career is is very happy with the chance she was given on American Idol. "The bad comments are hard, but it helps to know there are people out there who like me and support me," Scarnato added. "I'm hoping for anything to come my way. This has been a great experience with great exposure and I'm up for anything. I would love to get a record deal, it would be a dream come true," she said. In this performance, it wasn’t just the singing that was criticized by the jury, Scarnato’s outfits, which include sexy low-cut tops to short-shorts, were picked on as well. Simon Cowell implied Scarnato tried to take advantage of her looks to stay in the competition. (even know Sanjaya looks better) "I think you have a very good tactic at the moment, Haley: Wear the least amount of clothes as possible," Cowell said of her performance. Scarnato reportedly didn't speak to Cowell following her exit on Wednesday night. "I didn't go shorter. I didn't wear less clothes," Scarnato said. "... I never changed my look from Hollywood week [when] I showed my midriff a bit." She claimed in an interview she was trying to stay true to her roots: "I just tried to do the best I could do, and that was that," she said. "It hurts of course; its just legs. It's frustrating because I'm trying to perform and it was a singing competition and I thought they weren't listening to me anymore. You can't please everybody," she said in a press conference the day after her elimination. She also defended her choice to wear her skimpy outfits. "It's fun dressing up and playing the part of the theme week, and the song you are singing. With Latin week it's more of a sexier vibe," says Scarnato. "I don't think I wore less clothes than before. I think I stayed true to who I am." Post performance, Cowell commented: "You naughty little thing." Scarnato quipped she would have tried a new look on the show's upcoming country-music night. "If I was going to be here next week, I was going to wear a choir robe," Scarnato said. However, let’s not forget about Sanjaya Malakar, this season’s man of mystery who successfully managed to escape elimination, moreover, he wasn’t even voted among the bottom three. According to TMZ.com, former Idol contestant, Paris Bennett said she hopes Sanjaya will win, calling the contest a joke. "We want to see Sanjaya win because it'll kind of prove that 'American Idol' is kind of losing its taste," says Bennett, "it kinda isn't going for talent anymore and more for popularity."

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SANJAYA MALAKAR STILL ROCKING IDOL !

Make Sanjaya Malakar win so Simon quits !

Sanjaya Malakar, whose cringe-inducing vocals on "American Idol" have launched a thousand jokes on late-night TV and millions of fiery postings on Web sites, made it through another week Wednesday. After more than 30 million votes were cast following Tuesday's performance show, fellow "Idol" performer Gina Glocksen was sent home Wednesday, reducing the field to eight. For the fourth straight week, Malakar didn't even finish in the contest's bottom three despite a performance in which he strangled and left for dead all the high notes in Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek." This week's vote guarantees the lush-haired Sanjaya - his last name has largely been lost along the way - another seven days of shelf life as a pop culture phenomenon. The buzz around "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya Malakar doesn't mean he'll win the Hollywood competition, the show's executive producer says. Ken Warwick said hype on the Internet and the radio won't affect "the vast numbers of votes we get," which aren't revealed, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday. Shock jock Howard Stern and the Web site votefortheworst.com have pushed "to get a bad contestant as far as possible," the votefortheworst Web site said. But Warwick said the "anti" vote wouldn't make up the difference between Malakar and the people ahead of or behind him in the weekly call rankings. "Say what you want about Sanjaya, he hasn't a bad voice," Warwick said. "Personally, I don't expect him to be there in the end. But it's not up to me, it's up to the public."

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SANJAYA MALAKAR KEEPS ON SINGING MAYBE WITH KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN

Icon Tony Bennett invaded American Idol

American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar can get himself a free lifetime supply of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Famous Bowls if he comes on stage sporting a bowl haircut. 'We're sure America will be as 'bowled-over' by your take on this classic look as they are by our KFC Famous Bowls,' KFC president Gregg Dedrick said in an open letter to Sanjaya. Dedrick also said that KFC would additionally make a contribution in Sanjaya's name to Colonel Scholars, a charity that provides college scholarships to young people, reports www.hollywood.tv

Everyones favorite Sanjaya Malakar continues !

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SANJAYA MALAKAR STILL AMERICA'S IDOL

American Idol's Sanjaya Malakar keeps on going !

Sanjaya Malakar has lived to see another round of "American Idol", prompting a passionate debate over whether America's most watched TV show has lost its credibility or unwittingly created another media superstar. Malakar, 17, was easily voted through by the public to the final 9 of the 6th season of the singing competition on Wednesday after becoming one of the most-talked about people on U.S. television. In the past three weeks, Malakar moved a 13 year-old girl to tears on national television, inspired a one woman hunger strike, smiled through vicious comments from Idol judges and delivered almost as many different hair-dos as off-key notes. Far from being booted off the show by the 30 million strong "Idol" TV audience, which eliminates one of the contestants each week, Malakar appears to be going from strength to strength. Even British judge Simon Cowell, who quipped last month that he would quit if Malakar won the competition, appears to have succumbed. "Sanjaya, I don't think it matters anymore what we say...I think you are in your own universe and if people like you, good luck," said Cowell after Malakar's startling mohawk hairdo overshadowed another less than stellar singing performance on Tuesday. Maverick Web site www.votefortheworst.com (VFTW) claims much of the credit for "saving" Malakar on what it calls "America's largest karaoke contest." The Web site's mission, picked up and promoted by radio shock jock Howard Stern, is to "have fun with 'American Idol' and embrace its suckiness" by encouraging people to vote en masse for the worst contestants. But popular culture expert Robert Thompson said he doubted Stern's audience had the patience to negotiate the famously busy signals on "Idol" phone lines. "Sanjaya is a really cute kid with a unique look and an incredibly dreamy smile that can get thirty 12-year old girls to vote a million times apiece on speed dial," said Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television, in Syracuse, New York. "I don't think he injures its credibility at all. 'American Idol' has never been about a scientific way of producing the very best vocalist of our time. It has been a silly, fun, really well-produced talent competition and you never quite know what's going to happen," Thompson said. Some diehard "Idol" fans, who have seen past contestants find success at the Grammys, the Oscars and the Country Music Awards, were not so convinced. "Faithful watchers will stop watching if Sanjaya is not sent home. The whole purpose of this show is being undermined by a lot of people who have lost sight of (or more likely couldn't care less about) the ultimate goal....for the BEST SINGER to win!!!!," wrote one fan who used the name Kshenk on the www.americanidol.com message board.

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SANJAYA MALAKAR CONTINUES WITH HAIR

Sanjaya Malakar is 'American Idol'

Flowing hair and a precious smile have their rewards. Especially if you‘re Sanjaya Malakar, who is considered one of the weakest performers on "American Idol" but has a fan base that has helped him survive multiple rounds of viewer elimination. "I think he has a career ahead of him, whether he wins or not," said Pastor Pat Wright, a gospel choir director in Seattle who has known Malakar for five years. "He‘s very handsome. That‘s most of it," she said. "He‘s a teenager, and young girls and guys really like him." Simon Cowell went so far as to say if Malakar wins, he‘ll quit. "He sings from the heart, and people who hear him can feel that heart and they become, many times, very emotional," said Wright, who has directed Malakar in her choir for at least three years. "He has not shown America what he can do. That‘s what I said to him a couple days ago. ‘I want you to give them the showmanship. I want you to give them Sanjaya‘s heart,‘" she said. Recchi introduced Malakar to Wright‘s choir, where she says his musical personality blossomed. But she agrees that her nephew hasn‘t been performing his best. Malakar‘s singing talents may pale in comparison with other finalists, but his ability to work the crowd may pull him through. Malakar‘s most recent performance of "You Really Got Me" showed the teen‘s strong stage presence, said Emmons, who has 10- and 13-year-old daughters who watch the show.

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DIANA ROSS PERFORMS ON AMERICAN IDOL WHILE SANJAYA MALAKAR HANGS ON

Diana Ross On American Idol

American Idol contestant Brandon Rogers, who forgot the words to his song on Tuesday's ode to Diana Ross "American Idol," was eliminated in the first round of finalist voting. Rogers, a former backup singer from Los Angeles, became the first of the final twelve to be voted off the Fox network monster hit."I have no hard feelings," Rogers, 28, said on stage. "I kind of expected it." Rogers said he made a "cardinal sin" by missing some of the lyrics of the Motown classic "You Can't Hurry Love." Ascerbic judge Simon Cowell had said his performance was dull and uninspired. Sanjaya Malakar and Phil Stacey were the other two who rounded out the bottom three. The votes in the phone ballotting drew about 28 million calls and text messages. The 17-year-old Malakar, of Federal Way, Wash., has managed to keep hanging on still perplexes a lot of viewers. His rendition of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was berated by a tortured Cowell who gave the nice kid credit for being "brave." Stacey, 29, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., sang "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and he still reminds me of the late actor Klaus Kinski on a good day. Motown diva Diana Ross, who coached all the contestants this week sang "More Today Than Yesterday," from her latest CD, "I Love You."

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SANJAYA MALAKAR NEXT AMERICAN IDOL ?

Seventeen-year-old Sanjaya Malakar of Federal Way is one of 12 finalists competing for a record contract on "American Idol." The show's tense final moments Thursday night focused on Malakar and Jason "Sundance" Head, who were competing for the No. 12 spot. The judges were surprised when viewers voted Head off the show, complementing him on his singing as they showed him the door. Simon Cowell has criticized Malakar for his "weird" stage presence and his singing hasn't attracted the same kind of praise some of his competitors have received. Among the 24 semifinalists was another Federal Way contestant, 22-year-old Amy Krebs. She was voted off the show on Feb. 22.

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