Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The Ten Most Shocking Results in American Idol History



Over the years, American Idol has supplied us with many shocking results. Here are my picks for the most surprising.

1. Tamyra Gray's elimination (Season 1)
We didn't even know shocking results were possible at this point in Season 1 -- we just assumed the two best singers (Kelly and Tamyra) would make it to the finals. Boy, were we wrong! I wish I had a photo of my face when the results were announced -- my jaw was literally on the floor.

2. Three Divas/Jennifer Hudson's elimination (Season 3)
No more needs be said about this one -- the looks on the faces of Latoya, Fantasia, and Jennifer said it all.

3. Latoya London's elimination (Season 3)
Jasmine instead of Latoya? Simply insane.

4. Chris Daughtry's elimination (Season 5)
Slightly less surprising than Tamyra and Latoya's ousters, simply because at this point in the show's run we knew surprising results were possible. Also contributing to the exit -- Elliott, who was presumed to be the most vulnerable, came out firing, and Chris suffered from dreaded voter compacency.

5. Ruben Studdard's first Bottom 2 appearance (Season 2)
Ruben's trip to the Bottom 2 caused Oprah to call her friend Gayle and proclaim "Girl, we need to start voting!" When Oprah is shocked, you know it's big.

6. Constantine Maroulis' elimination (Season 4)
Even though he was considered a favorite, his lackluster Nickleback cover made it less than mind boggling why the rocker got the boot.

7. Ruben Studdard winning over Clay Aiken (Season 2)
After "Bridge Over Troubled Water" I thought Clay had it in the bag. I still think if busy signals hadn't been a factor Clay would have been Season 2's champ.

8. Sabrina Sloan not making it into Top 12 (Season 6)
I'm still sore about this one -- the girl could sing! It only make it hurts more that she lost out on a spot due to Haley Scarnato.

9. Jim Verraros making it into Top 10 (Season 1)
Again, we didn't know what to expect back in Season 1, and Jim making into the Top 10 was just the first of several surprises.

10. Vanessa Olivarez' elimination (Season 2)
Vanessa was definitely not the worst during the Top 12 in Season 2 (I'd give that honor to Charles Grigsby or Julia DeMato), so her early ouster was nearly impossible to predict.

What do you think are the most shocking results in Idol history?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What ever happened to Sanjaya?
I'd say that his progress had been a shocked week after week...

Anonymous said...

What ever happened to Sanjaya?
I'd say, every week had been a shocked, but what even more shocking is that, why did the judges even considered him in the first place..

Anonymous said...

Ruben won, Clay lost. When will Clay's fans join him in moving on with life?

Anonymous said...

1 word--sanjaya

Anonymous said...

Chris, not shocking. If you read the boards, Dial idol showed Chris at the bottom. Many of us on the boards knew he was going home.

This season Dial has had a few misses, but last season they were on the money.

Anonymous said...

sundance not making the top 12 sucked

Anonymous said...

The pain I experienced the night Constantine went home is something myself and others have yet to shake completely. He has one of the most amazing performances ever on the show. But his star continues to shine, so it's all good.

Anonymous said...

In season 2, although it has been said there were problems with the phone lines, Ruben overtook Clay by "less than 1%" of the votes. I thought that was impressive and wonder what the likelihood of this occurring again would be. This is probably not considered shocking, but what were the odds? incredible.

Anonymous said...

Tamyra being eliminated was quite a shocker, since she was Simon's darling, and actually had the best voice on there. He had to switch his attention to Kelly by default.

Chris D. had a great rock voice, and should never have gone home when he did. Lots of rocker fans wouldn't vote on this show though. The final two should have been Chris and Katharine.

Nothing will ever compare to Clay not winning after even Nigel admitted he got 80% of the vote each week. Guess everyone decided to abandon ship on the final night. Sure. It's obvious the conveniently blocked phone lines did the trick for them, and they will never forgive Clay for being successful anyhow, despite their slams, and the relentless pimping of Ruuuuben.

Ruben was very good on ballads, but not versatile at all, and certainly didn't have the stage presence, endurance, and audience interaction necessary for concert performances.