Constantine Maroulis believes that American Idol producers rigged his elimination in sixth place, just to create buzz for the show.
The Broadway singer was a fan-favorite when he competed on Season 4 of American Idol in 2005. Ultimately, Carrie Underwood won the season, with southern rocker Bo Bice taking second place.
“I don’t think people were getting more votes than me”
Constantine’s thinking is that Idol producers rigged the results to create a shocking boot that would steal headlines from affair rumors between then-judge Paula Abdul and season 2 contestant Corey Clark (!!!)
“To be honest, all these years later, I think [the eviction] was just good television on [the producers’] part,” he said on the podcast Behind The Velvet Rope with David Yontef. “I don’t think people were getting more votes than me. I can’t imagine I was getting fewer votes than some of the people that ended up finishing ahead of me,” he said, “I just think it was good TV, looking back, being a producer now myself, that’s what I would have done.
Constantine believes Idol producers engineered his boot to steal headlines from the Paula Abdul/Corey Clark controversy
“And remember they were running an exposé on Paula Abdul on ABC at the time about her and Corey Clark or something,” he said. “And that was getting a lot of buzz. And guess what happened that week? They voted me off the show,. Smokescreen. It was all over the news,” He added, “It was all over everything and ended up trumping…all their headlines and buzz. So it was good TV. It was good producing.”
“I had never been in the bottom three. I had a lot of friends on set saying I was getting insane votes.
“All these years later I’ve waved the Idol flag for 15, 16 years. No, one’s been a bigger cheerleader and supporter, but I feel like, yeah, it was probably just a really well-produced moment.”
Sure, American Idol loves their “well produced moments” like any reality show. But if they got caught rigging votes, it would destroy the franchise. Fans would never trust the show again. They’d stop voting, and stop watching. The show does attempt to manipulate viewers with backstories, song choices, performance order. But the possible consequences of cheating, by rigging the outcome, would just be too steep.
“It was me, Bo and Carrie…that was the whole season.”
As far as who Constantine believes he got more votes than? “It was me, Bo and Carrie…that was the whole season.” In other words, he believes that he actually got more votes than Scott Savol, Anthony Fedorov and Vonzell Solomon that week. At least. (They came in 5th, 4th and 3rd respectively).
“I love me some Vonzell, Anthony’s my little brother,” He added, Scott…I don’t know what he’s up to. We may have had a fist fight or two on the tour. All of us. There was a couple of little mini-rumbles backstage.”
“And when you have that many people watching and those kinds of stakes… I don’t know,” he added, “I hope they don’t get mad at me all these years later.”
Constantine also mentioned that he had lined up U2’s “Beautiful Day” to perform, but the rights were pulled at the last minute, and he ended up singing Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me.”
It’s also worth noting that working class Ohio native, Scott Savol had the kind of underdog reputation that appealed to Idol’s southern base. I don’t think it’s a reach that he got more votes that particular week. Constantine DID have a weak performance. SHOCK BOOTS HAPPEN! Remember the late Michael Johns leaving in 8th place in 2008 (season 7)? Some fans believed he could win. And of course, Jennifer Hudson’s shocking demise in seventh place on season 3. Those are only two notable examples.
Corey Clark made huge headlines with his Paula Abdul allegation
In case you forgot, back in 2005 Idol contestant Corey Clark alleged that he had an affair with Paula during his season in 2003, which Paula denied.
Fox hired an independent law firm to look into Corey’s claims and they found no evidence to support his story.
He was disqualified from the show in 2003 after making it into the top six finalists for failing to disclose his criminal background. Ruben Studdard won season 2, with Clay Aiken taking 2nd place.
Recently, Constantine revealed that he’s 20 months sober and is currently hosting a radio show on WABC.
