All they have to do is not put any good ones to the voting rounds and
NOT pimp them. Phillip was pimped by both the editing team and judges.

Kris did manage to win without being one of the Chosen Ones but his case was really a perfect storm that’s not likely to be duplicated.

Lee got favorable judging/edits, but Crystal was pretty polarizing for a female on Idol. Fantasia managed to win but it was the pre-WGWG era and TPTB made it clear she was The One, and also the deck stacked up more favorably for her in S3 than it did for Crystal in S9. OTOH, I don’t think anti-votes were a huge factor in the S9 finale. There was a lot of apathy that year and if vote totals were down 40% then people probably didn’t care enough to “vote against” someone in the finale. So perhaps if the whole Sad Tale of the Paint Salesman had never happened, Crystal might have been able to squeak out the victory.

Scotty wasn’t as pimped as Lauren and James, but he was shown being apologetic after not standing up for a member of his group during Hollywood Week. Who knows, if they hadn’t shown the footage proving Scotty was sorry for his earlier inaction, maybe he would have been seen as a villain or less of a nice guy. Also, the judges never called him out on sounding the same (that was the “stay in your lane” year but they always could have abandoned that to go in on him) or holding his mic funny. If he’d been pushed he might have cracked under the pressure. OTOH, criticism might not have had any negative impact on his performances or vote totals.

I say they need to wipe the slate clean for S12 and make a clear statement that there will be a different type of winner in 2013: no WGWGs in the Top 24. You can’t take a chance on an “ugly” one (Idol fangirls can have…interesting ideas about sex symbols) or one who supposedly doesn’t sing well, because the fans might have different ideas. Maybe that’s not fair to all the fresh WGWGs trying out this year, but too bad.

I loved Candice Glover, hopefully she comes back and actually make it to the live rounds this time around, i never really understood why they cut her.

Kris did manage to win without being one of the Chosen Ones but his
case was really a perfect storm that’s not likely to be duplicated.

I agree, I think he made the most improvement and was the underdog to the highly pimped Adam.

Scotty wasn’t as pimped as Lauren and James, but he was shown being
apologetic after not standing up for a member of his group during
Hollywood Week. Who knows, if they hadn’t shown the footage proving
Scotty was sorry for his earlier inaction, maybe he would have been seen
as a villain or less of a nice guy. Also, the judges never called him
out on sounding the same (that was the “stay in your lane” year but they
always could have abandoned that to go in on him) or holding his mic
funny. If he’d been pushed he might have cracked under the pressure.
OTOH, criticism might not have had any negative impact on his
performances or vote totals.

I don’t even lump Scotty with the other 4 TBH, he was actually something new and different as far as winners go and most of the casual audience knows he could not be more different than say, Lee or Cook. They also all criticized him top 7 week and he came back and improved. People tend to forget other contestants besides Haley had their share of criticism too, LOL.

not true considering she was the one that pushed HIM to audition the first time and she was the one who auditioned last year. TPTB had other plans.  She’s trying to follow her own Idol dream.

Originally, I had an “if you consider Scotty a WGWG” line in there but it got erased at some point. He technically fits the definition, but in a lot of ways he was a very different winner for the show (teen male and country). As others have pointed out, he probably would’ve won even without the guitar, but he did play and when people do the photo montages of all the brown-haired plaid-wearing Idol winners together, he does fit right in. He doesn’t exactly help counteract the “image problem” the show has, that only a certain kind of contestant can win anymore. 

They also all criticized him top 7 week and he came back and improved.
People tend to forget other contestants besides Haley had their share of
criticism too, LOL.

Even Chosen Ones get criticized occasionally (except maybe Ruben). I was more thinking of how Scotty might have gone over if Simon had still been there, fully engaged…I think Simon either would have haaaated Scotty and gone after him regularly, or else very quickly picked up on his popularity and called him as the winner super early.

I don’t see Scotty as a WGWG at all. But while he’s not a songwriter – or wasn’t at this time last year, anyway – I’d bet a fair amount that he had a good deal of input in his arrangements.

But there is something other than just being WGWG then.  Otherwise they would all finish at the top and they don’t.

Well, there are a few of us out there who have actually preferred some of the female contestants, or some of the male contestants who are not white, or some of the male contestants who do not strum a guitar when they perform.  We managed to get a few votes in. ;)  Still, no one can deny that the last 5 winners are white males, all of whom used a guitar at some point. To which I say OH WELL! Obviously, they are the type of artists the American Idol audience prefers.  I don’t know how TPTB are going to stop it. But, there’s no point in denying that the bias exists.  The cute, “humble,” white guy who holds a guitar will be the odds-on favorite from here on out, no matter how much better his competition, unless they are banned forever from the auditions. And how silly would that be? 

It’s the “most qualified” WGWG, meaning the one that voters pick as their “ideal” winner out of that category.

 I am sure that she is – I was just saying that having the sibling of a popular contestant might be something they would have to deal with, but I am sure that it would be alright for her to be on :)

I really feel like it wouldn’t be that hard to just not cast guys who are close to being wgwg. I think they got really close this season, if they only had not cast Phillip in the first place and cast Jermaine instead as the 12th guy I think they would have had a non white guy winner. If that does happen, I will also have no tolerance for people who are wgwg fans complaining about the lack of them. Last season had no black females, we have had many years without rocker girls, or country guys, or pop guys, or whatever. White guys with guitars shouldn’t be a special exception that get cast every year.

Anyways, if they do in fact change the rule that would let semifinalists try out again, who would you like to see back? I personally would only like to see contestants from the seasons where people got one shot, instead of the 4 week format, so seasons 1-3 (although probably no one from those semifinals) 8, 10, and 11.I would like to see Mishavonna Henson, Rachel Zevita, Lauren Turner, Hallie Day, and Chelsea Sorrell back. I think all those women were screwed. 

I’m sorry, Scott MacIntyre tried to play on the guitar. And he came out of the show. LOL I am convinced, Scott was the best guitarists than Scotty.
http://youtu.be/J8QtwwyoCSU

Yes to Candice Glover! I was shocked when they let her go after that group performance. Fingers crossed she gets in this year.

Candice has quite a following on Twitter, and we might see a change in her appearance.  The night she was eliminated, Nigel was quite upset and said he didn’t agree with the judges.  On Twitter, he invited Candice to audition again.  So, I won’t be surprised if she makes TOP 12.

The female contestants you named as people you wanted see back on AI are disqualified from ever auditioning again.  Once a contestant goes on the live shows and sings for viewers votes, you are banned from auditioning again.  That is why it is better to get cut before T24 (if you can’t make it to T10).  This is also why it was good that Hollie, Josh, and Colton were cut last year.  They came back for S11 and made the tour.

I think this is why David Leathers was cut by the judges.  It seemed so tragic and unfair at the time (Eben went through) but this allowed Leathers to come back and audition again after a little more seasoning and maturity, Eben lasted one live show and can never audition for AI again.