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12 Tidbits From 'Idol' Top 12 Party
1. Season four finalist Paris Bennett came to support the Idols. She and Simon Cowell met up right next to me. He gave her a big hug and she told him, "I miss you!." She told Simon about the movie she is going to begin filming next month. Simon muses to her, "You'll probably be a big movie star."
2. Sanjaya Malakar's highlights are all his. They were put in before the show, not during, by the Idol style team. He told me he would be willing to let the style team do whatever they wanted, "I'd be totally willing to cut my hair. I think it would be really fun to just shave it off but I don't know if they'll let me."
3. Melinda Doolittle and Mandisa from last season are friends, "I love Mandisa. She is one of my favorite people. She sent me flowers and she is so supportive. And she's just, you know, kind of prayed me through this one. so I am very thankful for her."
4. Brandon Rogers got an email from pop singer Anastasia with whom he toured for two years as a backup singer. He also toured with Christina Aguilera but so far has not heard from her.
5. Stephanie Edwards told me that all Top 12 finalists were warned by Fox not to address the Antonella situation tonight. Stephanie admitted, "They did. They said nothing about any of the news that is out about her. So, I love her to death. That was my homegirl that was here so I'm not going to say anything bad about her anyways. I mean, they just don't want anything negative because everybody doesn't feel the same way about her. I feel a certain way about her but everybody else may not feel that way and they just don't want any one to say anything rude, or you know, bad about her. So I understand."
6. Simon thinks Rosie's rant about racism was completely without merit, "That's probably the most stupid thing I've ever heard, actually she should apologize for that remark."
7. Ryan Seacrest gave me a hint about the American Idol Africa project. I ran into him at the SAG awards and he mentioned that he and Simon were leaving the next day for a trip to Africa. I had joked to him at the time, " Why, to ride elephants?" He said it was a charity mission to impoverished areas. Last night, I told him it just never clicked in my mind it was connected to Idol. He joked, "I gave you a scoop and you blew it. What did you think, we were going down there to elope?"
8. Simon believes Antonella's photo scandal will make her more marketable than any of the Top 12, "She'll make more money than anyone who wins this show. I predict that."
9. Sabrina Sloan getting voted off was not only a shock for Haley Scarnato as the two of them stood up on stage but a personal blow, "She was my roommate so we have become really good friends. So, that was tough, knowing that one of us was going home. It's just, she's an amazing, talented person and she deserves to be here in top twelve. She's great but I think she's gonna do just fine. She's gonna have a great career ahead of her and I'm truly thankful."
10. Blake Lewis says don't look for any skeltons to come out of the closet about him, "You'll have to search, America. Honestly, no, I don't think so. I'm pretty open and, you know, I don't really have anything to hide."
11. Phil Stacey was convinced he was a goner last night because he knew his performance was subpar. That's why he cried when he made the Top 12, "I hate to admit it. I'm not much of a crier but you know I had a rough week this week performance wise. I was just absolutely humbled to know I had the support that was pulling for me that much that they would stick with me through a rough performance like that. And I'm, you know, I owe it to them to really bring it. I'm going to do all I can."
12. Melinda Doolittle didn't quite get it the first time a fan recognized her, "It's crazy. I had a woman come running down the sidewalk at me and she was like 'oh my God.' I thought something happened so I turned around and ran. I was like, what happened? I was taking off before my friend was like I think that was for you. I was like, oh sorry. I mean it just blows my mind. I didn't know it was going to be like this so it's been great."
And just a quick little nugget from our interviews with the four booted Idols Jared Cotter knew he was the one going home last night because being 6'4" he could read the card over Ryan's shoulder. It said in big letters, "Jared you are going home tonite." So, he had to stand up there and pretend he didn't know for a minute or so. Ouch!
More on our interview with the booted Idols on Monday. I'll tell you everything Antonella had to say about the photos and what her plans are for the person who leaked them.
Something tells me the 'next' Idol will be a female, then again I could be wrong, because the males chosen just don't seem to be up to it this year. Maybe next time they won't be so quick to eliminate those males who 'do' sound good enough 'to be' the next American Idol.
P.S. Simon needs to get his facts straight. The 'stepping stone' comment Jennifer Hudson made (Which turned out to be correct.)wasn't meant to be a 'put down' to Idol, but a "thank you" to them for helping her get to where she is today. It's time to stop taking her comments out of context, which he's becoming really good at lately, and move on.
Enough already Simon.