2nd Update: FOX 16 posted a correction to the story: an AT&T spokesperson told FOX that “AT&T does not divulge or confirm how many votes were cast in any state.” The story appears to be a rumor of unknown origin.
UPDATE: TV host, Billy Bush just tweeted this: “Source at the top says Votes were NOT close on idol. IE kris blew out adam lambert”
So, check this out. The state of Arkansas was representin’ in Idol votes last night, according to FOX16. I’m guessing the lions share of these were mostly for winner Kris Allen.
AT&T says about 38 million American Idol votes came from Arkansas last night. Chances are, most of those came from Kris’ home town of Conway. Hundreds turned out to watch Idol finale and the town seemed to erupt in cheers when Ryan Seacrest announced that Kris was the winner.
Ryan says there were nearly 100 million votes last night. So do the math. Seriously. Regional voting at it’s fiercest!
I’ll post more news as it comes….
Sorry to be off topic but… No video of the show tonight MJ? You usually post video and I find that very helpful:)
After seeing the hometown crowds he drew I’m not shocked. Those people were hardcore!
arkansans aren’t exactly known for being the sharpest bunch, but we (yes, i’m an arky) certainly know how to support our own. anybody want to help me call the hogs? ;-)
That’s the quality that we Californians should learn…shame on us californians lol
mj, do you have a source for this?
If this is true, Arkansas is the new Alabama. I think the results weren’t even close.
I’m curious though as to why TPTB would allow such data to be released. Do they feel the need to explain Adam’s loss? heh. Interesting nevertheless.
Wow, I guess that makes sense. We’re too vain in San Diego to do that kind of thing. ;)
WOW!! So about 1/3 of the total votes came from ONE STATE!!! One state decided our new American Idol. I hope those folks in Arkansas have a lot of money because they are going to have to buy alot of Kris’s CD’s!!!! This little bit of news practically guarantees he’s going to be the worst selling winner in the show’s history.
I don’t either pm. Notice that Ryan never said anything about the results being close on the show.
Congrats to Kris and his fans. I’m taking a few days away from reading and commenting on most AI8 related stuff so I don’t say something I regret. Because I really do like him, but IMO, Adam deserved the win so. much. more. So I need a few days to process this.
It’s ARKANSAS Idol! I just hope the entire state of Arkansas will pony up the dough to buy Kris’ album.
As I mentioned in the other blog, this fact is almost certainly wrong.
I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t doubt that some ATT guy said it, but I don’t see how it can possibly be true.
There are less than 3 million people in AR. Most elderly people are not voting, and most young children are not voting.
The chances of even 1 million people voting are extremely slim. I bet most middle age men arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t sitting there dialing their fingers off for hours, not to mention male teenagers who will feel much too cool to vote for Kris Allen.
On top of all that, DialIdol shows that Adam received plenty of votes from AR. Kris’s score in AR was a 58, Adam’s was a 56. So even if 1 million people were voting, many of them were apparently voting for Adam.
I don’t think the phone lines could handle this many votes from one place. They would melt!
38 million votes out of 100 million is simply impossible when you stop to think about it. That means the rest of the country had only 62 million votes, out of some 300,000 million people.
These numbers just don’t add up.
Hello guys!
Kris Allen Wins and Why Adam Lost!
http://inghinyero.blogspot.com/2009/05/kris-allen-is-american-idol-8-winner.html
Wow, huge votes from Arkansas!
Congrats to Kris. Good on him!
But being from one state over and a HUGE fan of Adam Lambert, I’m just sad we couldn’t get the job done for such a hugely talented kid who’s worked so incredibly hard — and so willingly shared so much of his heart with us!!
Go Adam!! Can’t wait to hear you in concert in Memphis TN!!!
That is insane.
lol wutttttt
If that’s true, that’s INSANE yo.
Arkansas be voting beasts, hot damn.
ETA: Lols comment twins sbalk017!
It can happen. Remember jasmin Trias finished 3rd because of the support of the state of Hawaii.
Wow, I’m really sorry to hear that. I’m sure that Kris would have preferred to have had a broader geographical spread. I’m actually not at all sure that Arkansas did Kris any favours with this.
Of course, the voting system was always incredibly ridiculous–it always only pretended to be fair and representative, but was far from.
LOL Arkansas Idol indeed.
Actually, 38 Million is very believeable because 62 Million is about the vote total they were getting before the Finale. And ratings were the lowest they’ve ever been this year. They had a huge Voting Party for Kris at a college football stadium in Conway with at least 4,000 people in attendance. The crowds that turned out for his homecoming events were ridiculous. If you have all those people power voting for 4 hours…anything is possible.
I agree with rbidol…those numbers just don’t seem realistic to me.
This- please please post the videos if you can… some of us internationals have to wait till Saturday to see the show… I SIMPLY CANNOT WAIT THAT LONG!!!
LOL- thanks…
The source is from the local Conway Arkansas Fox News itself!!
http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Conway-reacts-to-Kris-win/sv8BNSsGY0G8GRZWSr0fRw.cspx
rbidol, I don’t doubt those numbers for one second. Texting alone one person can get in 3,000 votes, more on a four hour night. The local AT&T were giving out phones to “text”. Did I mention the campaign I personally saw about getting a “west coast phone” so they could vote for 8 hours? Saw that too.
Nope the 38 mil votes from Arkansas did not surprise me one bit.
There are about 2.7 million people in Arkansas. That’s about 14 votes per resident. Wow! Imagine how many Go phones were purchased for this- it probably made AT&T’s stock skyrocket, LOL.
I think people have way underestimated Kris’ talent and appeal. His home state loves him for a reason. He’s a decent, hard-working guy. He took command of the stage at his homecoming concert in front of 25,000 people. I knew when I saw that that he could handle being the winner. What so bad about having a mellow Idol who’s full of talent? Adam is talented too, but that doesn’t negate Kris’ more understated talent. To each his own. The Idol crown is not the be all and end all of a career.
ETA: 38 million votes divided by 4,000 people at the Conway viewing party= 9,500 votes per person. If there were only another 4,000 voting in the state, it would be 4,700 per person. We know that Kris was always strong with texts, so it’s not that hard to believe that 10,000 people with 5 phones each could make that many votes over 4 hours.
I don’t see how anyone one can predict album sales from voter geography. Every Idol needs to move beyond their hardcore fans to sustain a recording career. As David Cook said, the work starts now.
I agree with the sentiment that it truly is hard to believe that Arkansas produced 38 of the 100MM votes…just do not understand how that could even be logistically possible.
That said, with Ryan not mentioning how close the vote was, I do believe it was not close (which surprises me). Here is a tweet from Billy Bush (Access Hollywood) who attended the Finale:
BillyBush: Source at the top says Votes were NOT close on idol. IE kris blew out adam lambert #ahcom
Oh – for the record, this Cali girl voted for 4 hours for Adam, so we do represent too!
You took the words right out of my mouth…. LOL
didn’t this happen in season 2 with clay and ruben. I could have sworn I remember a big chunk of votes coming from Alabama for Ruben.
Ohh well… Can someone help me with this? how long do we have to wait for Adam to release a single?? Do we have to wait until the fall or does he release one soon too??
I was about to go to bed, but I really had to respond……I understand what you are feeling. I am prolly feeling like that too. I haven’t been reading much of the comments because I don’t want to get caught up in anything regrettable. Last year taught me a lot in dealing with my disappointment. I truly think that Adam was more talented, but I will not bash Kris because he’s such a pleasant guy. I also have theories, but in the end it won’t change tonight’s results, and since I have no doubt that Adam will not only survive, but thrive, I am good.
In a few weeks we will be fangirling about how awesome he is on tour, and then the cd will come out, and who knows from there…..remember, he’s a rock god!
Interesting…
All I can say is keep putting out singles like your last one, Adam Lambert. Change is Gonna Come is beyond fantastic!!! I encourage all music lovers to check that single out!
That’s good… if he wants to have a career in Arkansas!
It’s interesting how that info came out… Don’t think it’s something they’d like to share.
I was surprised the finale had “only” 100 million votes. That’s pretty much the same as last year’s… I thought it would be more cause it seemed like this season was getting more votes. Looks like the number of votes may be bigger, but probably the number of voters is not.
BillyBush: Source at the top says Votes were NOT close on idol. IE kris blew out adam lambert #ahcom
that’s interesting
good for Arkansas, supporting their kid… not any different than Alabama supporting Bo, Oklahoma supporting Carrie, etc.
I think Archuleta released his single first (August?) last year.
My parents are in their 50s. They are not old. They don’t know how to text.
You are not going to get a million people, under any circumstance, texting like crazy for hours. Think about your community. The old lady, the skater kid, the drunk, the prom queen. Under what circumstance would you get ALL these people to vote like mad for the same person for hours? And how would you teach them how to power-vote with text messages?
As I said, the phone lines would simply melt if there were that many calls coming in.
Just because it was on the news does not mean it is true.
ahahah what is this Canadian idol?
Yeah, ^^this. He will be touring the whole country soon. I hate to think of people walking out after Adam performs.
That makes more sense now:
KRIS ALLEN is the ARKANSAS IDOL 2009!!!!
The media’s gonna have fun with this one,LOL
Yup. I already bought it. That is truly the best vocal of the entire season. Adam has mad skills!! Its unfair for one person to have all that talent. lol I can’t wait to see his career blossom. He deserves it.
What source?? It can’t be any worst from last year when David C. won by 12 million votes. That annoys me that the vote totals aren’t released. I don’t care if Adam only got 1 vote, they should release them.
Ah ok. So Adam will be working on his album during the summer too. I can’t Wait! Thanks!!
Well, ok, I’m going to break bad and say, I’m pretty sad for Adam (and all of us) right about now. Yes, I can say, I’m so proud the country embraced him to the point of being our #2, but truthfully, that’s not good enough for his talent. And, I’m beyond sad we couldn’t get the job done for Adam (and ourselves) tonight!
Adam, your single A Change Is Gonna Come is beyond reproach, and truly inspiring to me. Keep on Keeping On, Dude. We’re with you all the way…
I’m 51 and I know how to text and I do.
I don’t know what else to say to you. It’s a known fact that AT&T showed people how to text vote and passed out free phones. There was also lots of info on Kris fansites of how to power vote.
Again, it does not take 1 mil people to get those kind of votes. Look around the net for “power voting” and I think you will begin to understand.
I’m not going to say this is impossible, but I find it highly improbable.
ETA:
“There was also lots of info on Kris fansites of how to power vote.”
Those same lists of voting options get copied onto every fansite for every Idol every season. Kris’s fans don’t have the market on crazy new voting techniques. As far as AT&T goes, I’m sure they did the same thing in San Diego. They don’t care where the money comes from.
Maybe their “source” said 3.8 million and it sounded like “38 million” to the person who wrote up the report? I honestly cannot see 38 million votes out of less than 100 million votes coming from one state. Especially when there were over 88 million votes last week.
I agree with this. Especially since there were over 88 million last week with half the voting time. That would mean they only got less than 12 million more votes during the extra two hours of voting. That’s crazy.
well i was watching a youtube review video and a girl said she had voted 3000 times alone…..must have texted
I have such a hard time believing that story, but who knows????
#1: they have never released a state’s totals have they?
#2: population of AK: 2,855,390 – Jul 2008 according to Google. There’s just no way that the math works on that one. Sorry.
Beyond that is the fact that AK would account for 40% of the votes when it represents
If Arkansas gave Kris 38 million votes i believe in what Billy Bush said. Kris probably won by a large margin. Because if Arkansas had not voted like crazy the competition would be still close. If Arkansas voted like crazy they didn’t necessarly make Kris win, they just made him win by a large margin.
If you look Dial Idol you can understand. Kris made the top 13, but Dial Idol didn’t predict that. There were one or two times that Kris had the least amounts of votes according to dial idol (even when he was SAFE top 4 night he had the lowest or second lowest amount of busy signals). This means that he got a LOT (and i mean a LOT) of text votes. If he was almost tied or slighty ahead of Adam on dial idol that means he had actually a lot more votes if you follow the logic. This has happened all season. Not that good on dial idol but very good overall. So, tied on dial idol with Adam = he had a lot more votes than Adam (text votes).
Mj, if at all possible I would love the videos of the finale. I must see it! Thanks for all you do! I visit your site daily!
So I’m guessing many Arkansas AT&T stores made their May sales goals.
Its very probable and most likey very true
Can’t wait for the media on this one.Its Ruben Studdard 2.0
That article doesn’t give any context to the statement or any real source. I certainly don’t believe every little thing I read off the news.
ETA:
“Weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re talking about a country that voted George W. Bush in office for 2 straight termsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦”
*Facepalm* REALLY?
Be comforted in the fact that Adam has a VERY bright future ahead of him. 5-10 years from now, people will remember Adam about Season 8. He has made his mark. He needed exposure and he got it from the show, plus a recording contract. He proved tonight that he is a star, and no one can take his talent away. Secondly, Adam doesn’t have to sing that God-awlful No Boundaries song….. Thirdly, I know we won’t know for a year or two but I really think Adam is going to be the breakout star of this year. Not only can Adam sing but he can perform/entertain. Today that is a rare combination. American Idol might not have embraced Adam, but I bet the world does. We already know he was the top selling idol contestant this season. I can’t wait to hear his album!!
but yes. Adam was robbed. America got it wrong. I wonder what the results would have been if the voting was limited like it is on Dancing with the Stars, etc. Even Kris said Adam deserved to win, which was very gracious of him. Kris seems like a really nice guy, and he is talented, but we have hundreds of Kris’s. but we don’t have an Adam Lambert right now. *sigh* oh well… thats voting for ya. We’re talking about a country that voted George W. Bush in office for 2 straight terms……
38 mil from one state seems hard to fathom. I mean… it just seems impossible.
Local Home News Network would of course overstate the actual number! Here in Va the phone lines “Circuits are busy” was for the entire voting time for Kris.
It is not hard to believe that Kris got a lot of votes through out the USA unless you were voting for the other contestant.
Even Ryan stated something like “I know you all got busy signals last night” Ryan didn’t mention how much Kris won by because AI would have egg on their face for not recognizing their judges got it all wrong.
I happened to think that Kris and the Keith duet tonight was a magical moment.
This coming from not a big fan of Kris and didn’t vote until last night.
Adam lost because in my opinion American’s are sick and tired of the pimping and underhanded drama the show engages in every year, which is getting worse and worse. I think many people just voted because they wanted to stick it to TPTB.
I’m not anti-gay on anything, if Normund Mitchell was in the final two…lol… I would have spent thousands on phone plans to give to people to help make him the winner.
It was never the gay agenda, but Adam with me was his voice…it just didn’t sit well with my ears oh and Adam did come across too self assured he would win. That’s how I saw it….and if I saw it that way I’m sure many other people did too.
To be honest, I would turn the channel on the radio if I heard adam, but Chris I would want to listen to it. It’s just that simple. It had nothing to do with his lifestyle.
So… for those who can’t wrap their minds around 38 million from one state: All it takes is about 20K people doing hardcore voting for 4 hours to accomplish that. I don’t see that as impossible at all.
Nigel tweets:
LOL. Sorry. Couldn’t resist bringing that over.
Well, every election people talk about wanting to throw out the electoral college in favor of a popular-vote system, so there you go….
Jasmine Trias made it to number three, not based on talent, and probably not based on wide appeal. She made it from the much smaller state of Hawaii and power voting from there.
So not as if this is unprecedented.
That is astounding. About 40% of the total vote from about 9% of the population. But it’s not unbelievable. Power voting means that you really don’t need anywhere near everyone in the state to get that kind of total.
Not necessarily. The DialIdol scores are based on the busy signals, and those aren’t necessarily well distributed — we know that DI’s rankings were wildly inaccurate for much of this season, especially regarding Kris. On the other hand, if you look at the raw votes that were cast from Arkansas using DialIdol, Kris won those by something on the order of a 14-to-1 ratio.
I don’t think that’s necessarily crazy. I think a lot of that could possibly be explained by Gokey’s vote evaporating.
I immediately assumed, based on Ryan’s lack of comment about the winning margin, that it was a blowout.
But there’s articles to prove it. lol AT&T wouldn’t lie. :) Its that hometown pride. I come from a small town, so I can easily believe it. Adam comes from a state where Brad Pitt and George Clooney walk around all the time. Its not the same. Plus, you had Kris’s pastor, along with Danny’s and others sending mass emails out encouraging people to vote for Kris. There was just a more coordinated effort on Kris’s fanbase part. That doesn’t mean Kris has more fans….. they were just more willing to vote nonstop for 4 hours straight.
Arkansas was to Kris as Alabama was to Ruben.
Heh. They didn’t? That’s weird, he must’ve been practicing that song like crazy then, it sounded so much better.
Yep, they have been around season after season. My point was they were on Kris’s fansites for any of his fans to see. I would hope they did the same thing for Adam in San Diego, don’t know for sure.
Taylor also got alot of free AT&T phones on season 5 passed out from a AT&T company. I know that for a fact because I know the girl who made that happen. There were also alot of people around explaining how to power text vote. It just depends on how fanatic your fanbase is.
For DC last year, it was on the radio of how to power vote. Same girl that made the phones happen for Taylor was on the radio for DC to explain how to power vote.
Wow, thats what you call a swing state. Maybe AI needs an electoral college. :innocent1_tb: Hey, if he can get those peeps to vote, maybe he can get them to buy albums. In the end, it’s all about money so this won’t amount to a hill of beans in the grand scheme of things.
Adam took Florida. For once, we aren’t in the center of a voting controversy.
I thought about that too. I thought the vote total would be way higher. I suspect that a lot of people like me, who liked both guys, didn’t vote last night. I also suspect that the vote wasn’t close, since they like to brag about the close races. i was surprised when we didn’t get the percentages for each guy.
As I said in my previous post, it wouldn’t take anywhere near 1 million. 10,000 hardcore voters could do it, 100,000 more casual voters would only have to get in 380 each, which only takes me about 1 1/2 hours of continuous voting. Spread out over a few hours, it’s easy.
CA is much biger than AR
—
The number shows —-even homestate CA dosen’t like Adam that much.
—
And base on DI
Kris wins big states too, TX MI…..
some big states Adam wined like NY,CA, the DI score is really close. Kris got a lots votes from those state too.
If AR really send 38m votes
other states send a large number too.
it means à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’
probably adam only got 10M votes ,Kris got a landslide 90M votes, and 38M from AR.
That’s maybe the only way to explain both “AR 38M votes” and “DI Score per State”
??? ISSUES WITH ADAM’S TEXT VOTES ???
Did ANYONE receive a CONFIRMATION of their TEXT VOTE for ADAM last night?
On -01? I did not receive a single confirmation all evening.
Just curious, did the finale had more votes than previews seasons or was it the total of the season that broke the record? I think Ryan and the guy said the total votes during the season broke the record, but I don’t if they said they got more votes in the finale. Last year was 97million, which is also close to 100million.
I’m from Hawaii and know how much Jasmine was promoted. Yes, I actually felt like I had to vote for her. That’s also why I believe that there will never be another idol from Hawaii. If the votes from Arkansas are true, I don’t think we’ll be seeing another idol from there anytime soon either.
The huge vote for Kris also seems to be confirmed when Ryan never said how close the totals were. They always mention it, over and over again, if the voting was close.
I didn’t text, but I did read in another thread that someone got their confirmations this morning instead of last night.
38 million
divide by 38 votes = 1 million people voted
divide by 380 votes = 1/10th of that many people voted (I think)
how many is that? math isn’t my forte …
people could vote for 4 hours I think? If people averaged 380 votes each, how many would have voted?
Anyway I think it’s possible … some states really get behind their Idol contestants. I’m sure that Kris got lots of votes from other places too.
I think Adam should have won, but I was impressed by Kris tonight in his performances and I love his humility. After 8 years of Idol, I know that half the time the one I want doesn’t win, so I don’t get excited about it anymore. Last year I really wanted David Cook to win, but would have lived if he hadn’t won.
I think many factors played into Kris winning. Californians tend to be too cool to sit and vote for hours for a reality show. Seriously I used to live there and I think this is true. They don’t turn out big for the tour either. Anyway, many celebrities on the red carpet were rooting for Kris to win. He’s very popular.
It’s okay, they’ll both have good careers I believe. At least they have a great shot at it.
I got confirmation of my Adam text votes… this morning. Well, yesterday (Wed) morning.
I have to agree. I’m sorry, but this 38 million stat just doesn’t pass the sniff test.
Look at it this way, the only way it makes any tiny bit of sense is if the votes were mostly for Kris. If the votes were anywhere close to evenly split out of Arkansas, then people in Arkansas are the craziest Idol fans ever. So, let’s say 90% of the votes were for Kris or about 34 million. That would mean that he only got about 16 million votes from the rest of the country (unless he soundly beat Adam by a wide margin and I’m having trouble believing that).
I know that DialIdol is not completely accurate, but shouldn’t have Kris been dominating during the first four hours (since that is where 2/3rds of his votes came from) and then started collapsing down towards Adam’s totals during the remaining voting hours? If Adam’s votes were from across the country, we would have seen some kind of difference as the voting regions finished voting. Yet, all night long, Kris and Adam were neck and neck. That would indicate to me that they both received broad support from across the country.
I think the reporter or AT&T guy got it wrong. I mean, I’m sure if we look around I can dig up some articles that are already reporting that Kris got 100 million votes and that more people voted for him than Obama. We all know neither “fact” is true. Yet, those same sorts of “facts” get reported every year.
Okay, lots of people seem eager to believe this…probably because it makes Kris’s win look like a local fluke. But it still does not make sense.
There were 100 million votes this year.
If 38 million came from AR that means there were only 62 million from the other 49 states.
Which means, on average, the other 50 states had only about 1.25 million votes per state. 1.25 million!
This, despite the fact that AR has one of the smaller state populations.
All of this because, somehow, a large percentage of the state learned to power-text. This is a very unlikely scenario. Kris would have to be some kind of genius wizard to get his whole state to learn how to power text for hours, while the rest of America hardly voted at all (1.25 million is not much compared to 38 million!)
People didn’t get confirmation votes on Kris’s side either.
Ya know, I hope this isn’t true. But if it is? Classic.
Omg. if that’s true.. ahahahahah. I’m bummed Adam lost. But seriously, go Arkansas.
Ha. Well, in Obama’s case he still would have won. :)
If you go by dial idol, Adam would have won if you used the electoral college. If that popular-vote system is a one vote only system rather than power voting then I’m in!! lol :smile2_tb:
By the way, its surprising the vote totals ( less than 100 million) were so low. Especially with AK contributing almost 40 million votes of that total. People are really losing interest in the show. But they did say it was the least watched finale ever.
I think the exact words of the reporter from fox16 in the video were “Last night, we heard rumors that there were about 38 million votes coming out of Arkansas through AT&T and the numbers kept growing in Kris’ favor and now he has become the latest American Idol….”
The news article with it was not a faithful transcript of what the reporter said. So it could still be a rumor, who knows?
38 million Arkansas votes?? :eek_wp: Impressive. Cali..tsk tsk.
I’m not getting behind this, “they didn’t announce the spread cuz it was a landslide.” 12 million votes is pretty wide too, and they didn’t have any problem announcing that win for Cook!
Until I hear otherwise, I’m not believing Adam lost in a killer landslide. If someone wants to show me the data, fine. Then I can be wholly depressed on the state of our social climate. :-) So yeah, bring it on…
Folks, folks, if you are going to abbreviate Arkansas, do it right!
AR not AK. AK is Alaska.
I can totally see Kris beating Adam in a landslide. I know that I am a HUGE Adam supporter.. but I only voted for about an hour, maybe two, on one phone, and taking lots of breaks.
It seems like a lot of Adam’s fans (like a lot of my friends and family who didn’t vote) wanted him to win but just never picked up a phone.
LMAO!
This, I believe. When you break it down it’s not out of the realm of possibility for 380 votes in 4 hours or whatever, but only 1.25 million, on average, from every other state? That doesn’t even make sense!!
LOL! Thanks, pj. That’s hilarious. I actually thought Kris did change it up a bit, but I guess not.
??? No text confirmations last night = INCOMPLETE VOTE COUNT for Adam???
I am not a Kris super fan, i like him as i like Adam. But Arkansas is NOT Kris’ Alabama. Ruben won with Alabamas votes by almost nothing. That didn’t happen with Kris. As i said the competition was too close to call, as everybody said. The only thing that Arkansas did (IF it did) was make Kris win by a large number of votes.
As someone said, Ryan probably didn’t say the percentages (and he says it almost every year) because it would probably make no “sense”. If the Arkansas thing is true, Kris probably won by a large amount of votes and that would sound weird since all the judges and the media thought Adam would win.
And all Kris fans seem eager to refute this also even tough it is an information provided by the fox affiliate in Arkansas.
Look at the vote totals since top 7 week: we had an average of 36 million then jumps to 45, 65, 88 and now close to 100.
Meanwhile, the ratings haven’t gone up at all, in fact top 3 was seen by 20.5 million and the finale was the lowest rated ever.
So where does these additional votes come from???
If the number of voters stayed the same but the number of votes increased, it means that the number of votes per person increased dramatically.
That would mean that the WHOLE rest of the country only voted 62 million which is WAY low for a finale with 4 hours of voting time. Sorry, I don’t buy it. Besides, AI can eliminate votes it feels are “power votes”. So if there is any truth to this rumor, don’t you think that they would have called them power votes and let TCO win?
BTW… I’m in California, liked both Kris and Adam but voted for Kris all night – when I could get through.
No way is this true. With busy signals, this would mean that about 140 million calls were made in AR, for 38M to actually get through. Or more, even.
Although I’m sure practically everyone there did vote for Kris, as usually happens every year for hometown folks.
LOL Well if it makes ya feel any better, I’m neither jumping on or believing it at all. :-)
I am however resisting, as best I can, jumping on those admitting they “really wanted Adam to win” but yet were unwilling to lift a finger for more than a few minutes to get the job done… :-(
Unless the producers change the rules, every small town/small state contestant from here on out will follow the Kris Allen voting model to victory. Stadium voting parties with prize giveaways, free AT&T phones. No doubt contestants will hire campaign managers to strategize how to “get out” the vote. 40% of the total is obscene. That’s not a level playing field. No wonder Simon was pissed.
Prolly not true, but DI doesn’t factor in text votes, which is all AT&T. No one could really vote last night effectively without texting. It was busy the whole time.
And if you look above, it appears the actual reporter stated that this was a rumor. The transcript just may be wrong after all.
A lot of us don’t vote much anymore. After 8 seasons, I hardly ever vote now. Sorry. I watch the show for entertainment. And if I don’t vote, I don’t complain much about the outcome either. At least I try not to. lol.
It’s really a personal decision about voting. It’s a tv show and some just watch it. In fact I bet a lot of people don’t vote at all, and others just once or twice and feel they’ve done their part. Many are just not that invested in the outcome to spend hours of their time voting for a reality show.
BTW I don’t know if 38 million is correct, but I think that regional voting is a factor in the voting. Hawaii helped – was it Jasmine? – and Utah helped Carmen. Some states really get behind their contestant.
A landslide, very possibly true, and that’s probably why Ryan didn’t mention the vote ratio. Makes sense anyway.
“38 million Arkansas votes?? Impressive. Cali..tsk tsk.”
38 Million is the current population of California…
I call “Shenanigans” on the voting. If white-bread America wants their Kris Allen (who seems like a great guy – just not winning material) I hope they buy his albums too. Seems like there had to be manipulation either in the actual voting or with the powers that be. I called for four hours straight and got only 130 votes in for Adam.
I was an Adam fan from his audition but I am so happy for Kris. Both guys are going to be fine. Kris probably benefits more from being the winner than Adam (who probably would have been on the fast track to success even if he’d finished 5th) but I can’t complain about a 1-2 finish of a couple of very talented and seemingly decent young men.
And hey, it very easily could have been Gokey, so thank you, America, for taking care of that little issue last week…
I don’t believe the 38 million votes story is accurate. I do believe that the vote was a landslide though. I am not convinced that outside of the judges, media, and die hard fans, that his support was actually as high as the perception of it was. I know for me personally, you keep getting bombarded with “Adam is the best ever,” from the media and judges but no one I knew was a fan or was voting for him.
Not so fast…
Sorry but they don’t even count votes. I’m telling you, they pick who they want to win.
Jesus Tap Dancing Christ!
UNDERDOG PWNAGE!
Because it legitimized the upset. They love Cook and they didn’t want all the KO crap to taint his winning over Archie. It did taint Cook and he had to endure the whole shocker headlines way into the AI tour but that’s beside the point. They wanted to let America know that Cook handily beat out Archie. Here, they love Adam and if 19E is going to support him after the tour, they don’t want the news that some Opie from Arkansas mopped the floor with their Chosen One.
See that’s what happened in season 2 with Clay’s fans. They couldn’t get through. It seemed like they did something to make the phone lines tighten up, to create a tie situation. I will always suspect that Clay actually won that season but they wanted Ruben to win and made sure he did.
(Hmm, Clay, gay, Adam, gay, could it be they don’t want a gay winner? Nah not going there. :) )
A valid theory. Not the only possibility.
They can’t do everything they want with the votes, the “power voting” they refer to is not any kind of method, to quote someone else:
Honestly, I think the show needs to allow voting from other cell phone users. I will never go to AT&T. They suck where I live (and they did me wrong when my phone was stolen five years ago and made me pay for calls made to Honduras). I noticed they were able to do it for the charity song (and yes, I texted).
No, I didn’t receive any confirmation. I’m going to check and see if AT&T shows the texts on my account.
That has been my experience, too. Most of my friends were Kris fans. ONE person preferred Adam.
I’d be more prone to believe this if I hadn’t gotten less than 100 votes for Kris in during the entire four hours. I got more busy signals than anything else. Nearly the entire four hours. With only an occasional vote going through every 20 minutes or so. Then there was a span of like 15 minutes where I got the bulk of my votes in before I started getting busy signals again. Had the lines been more open for Kris, I might believe the whole “they closed down the lines for Adam” thing.
…Nah, I wouldn’t believe it then either, since they obviously wanted Adam to win. XD
It’s VERY easy for one state to vote that much. If 38,000 people sent in 1000 votes each (very easy if you text), then you’d get your 38 million votes. Which is quite easy to do with a 4 hour voting block. Shoot, I could get 1000 votes in manually re-dialing for 4 hours.
But wouldn’t that happen for both contestants? I know that people post a lot of crap on the internet, but it seemed like there were people on this blog who voted for 4 hours for Adam (and I have no reason to believe that they were lying) so I would presume some of them may have made more vote attempts last night than they did in previous weeks when the voting window was only two hours long.
Besides, surely I’m not the only person who waited until the finale to start voting (in a previous season). It wasn’t until the finale that I got the idea that I should put up or shut up about not being happy about the winner. I bet there are some people who vote once in a while during the competition who are more likely to vote during the finale due to it being the only week that being the top vote getter matters. So, if you get 30% of those people voting on a random week, but always on the last week, that would also tend to make finale results higher.
I would find the number unreasonable if the Fox affiliate in LA reported that California got in that many votes for Adam too. It’s just too big a number. It reminds me very much of those claims that it’s bulk buyers that drive a song up to number one on iTunes. I think there is some bulk buying, but I simply don’t believe that there are that many over invested fans. So, I can see some people voting 8,000 times in one night, but I think that the number of people who will do that is very small. Even in Arkansas.
I voted all 4 hours for Kris with about 80% busy signals, in Michigan.
I did not receive the confirmation for my first Adam text vote either.
And aren’t we all dealing in speculation, one way or another?
I think the Kris win shows a little less of a conspiracy. If TPTB had their way, they would’ve manipulated the show to have an Adam/Danny finale. They couldn’t get that, so they would’ve wanted Adam to win.
I can totally believe this, actually. I got in (she admitted pathetically) 80,000 votes last night (my best estimate after timing how many I was getting out in a minute), all on my own in 4 hours of voting with a cheap nokia gophone. It was also easier and more comfortable than texting with my usual iphone or manually redialing a phone — it was literally just pushing a single button over and over to send 20 votes in one shot. I could have conversations and even chat at the same time.
Even if the 20x votes were counted only as one, I got in 4000 separate text messages.
Even at that lower rate, 10,000 people could cast 38,000,000 votes. With no busy signals and not showing up at all on Dial Idol results. Wasn’t there a stadium party for Kris with prizes for voting or something? If half the people who showed up for one of his homecoming events showed up there, he’d have those 10,000 voters.
Okay, first, in what I said above, I made assumptions about people’s motives. I know that is against the rules, and I hope MJ deletes that part of my post. I should not have said that. I don’t know what people’s motives are.
Nevertheless, the fact that it was reported by a local news anchor does not prove it is true. Lots of things on the news are wrong. That is why there is a corrections section in every newspaper every day.
Plus, the numbers always increase as the season goes on. It happens every year. Not to mention the fact that the voting window was doubled. If anything, the final vote total seems way low to me.
This is the last time I’ll say it: I’ll bet you anything this story is wrong.
LMAO. Opie from Arkansas! Too funny. He is kind of Opie-like.
And sadly, I could believe that explanation.
Still, I think it was a close vote.
GOOD LORD.
I don’t see how “so much support from Arkansas” guarantees that Kris will fail. So he may or may not have gotten 38 million votes from his home state. Wasn’t California free to vote EN MASSE for Adam also? Bottom line, does it matter? KRIS WON. It’s a shock because the media (who has proven time and time again to be ridiculously out of touch with America itself) pushed Lambert so hard down everyone’s throats that everyone thought he was going to win. But that obviously didn’t translate into actual votes. And the media spin obviously didn’t reflect what people were actually thinking.
If Cowell’s bitchface has anything to do with it, then it’s not fixed. Just sayin…
Happy for Kris, but sads at the same time.
okay I just want to give a HUGE THANK YOU TO WHOEVER MENTIONED THE IDOL EXTRA INTERVIEW AND EVEN SAID THE CHANNEL FOR SATELLITE…THANK YOU BECAUSE OF YOU I WILL SLEEP SOUNDLY TONIGHT…AT FIRST WHEN ADAM SHOWED UP LOOKING LIKE HE HAD JUST WEPT TEARS (NOT OF) JOY I WAS REALLY BUMMED BUT THEN I WATCHED KRIS ALLEN’S BIT AND I HAVE TO GIVE IT UP TO THE GUY HE ACTUALLY REPEATED WHAT HE HAD SAID EARLIER ABOUT ADAM DESERVING THE WIN..WHAT A NICE HUMAN BEING…THERE IS A GOD, LOL…HE ACTUALLY EVEN SAID THAT RIGHT AFTER THEY ANNOUNCED HIS NAME ADAM WHISPERED TO HIM THAT HE DESERVED IT AND HE “SHOT RIGHT BACK AT HIM” AND TOLD HIM THAT HE, ADAM DESERVED IT AND THAT HE WAS HANDS DOWN THE BEST AI CONTESTANT EVER…SO THANK YOU AGAIN I DONT KNOW WHO IT WAS BECAUSE THERE WERE TOO MANY COMMENTS BUT I’M SOOOOO HAPPY I WATCHED THE INTERVIEW…AND I’M NOT SAD ANYMORE KRIS IS TRULY A GENTLEMAN AND SWEETIE. Good night everyone
Holy shit
I have to say…I find it hard to believe that 38 mil votes would EVER come in from any single state.
But, what I find harder to believe is that only 62 million votes came in from the rest of the country. Last week, there were 2 hours of voting time and they got 88 mil votes. This week, there was twice the time and they got 24 mil less votes? I just don’t buy that at all, despite the lower ranked finale.
Lastly, I don’t think there are really that many crazed power-voters out there. A lot of people who are on this blog vote a lot, but the general public really doesn’t. And heck, I tried to power vote for 3 hours last night and only got in about 30-40 votes because the line was so busy.
I get the impression that this is going to turn into “excuses why Adam Lambert didn’t win” and I don’t like it one bit, and I don’t think Adam would either.
d. b. cooper: Everything you said x infinity.
Oh, Caro. Please. Those states fucked themselves by not following the rules and Hillary was okay with until she lost. LOL.
I don’t think he’s going to “fail” per se. But if the bulk of his votes came from a small region of the country, it doesn’t bode well for him to have much sales appeal across the nation – which is what he’ll need to have a top selling album.
haven’t read the comments here, but this show is not about politics and that’s what makes me so happy about the win!
this. i’ve been to one of the texting parties in little rock too. maybe the estimated number of votes from other states seems ridiculously low when you subtract the 38m, but this number coming from arkansas isn’t at all unrealistic.
I voted for 4 hours for Kris and got less than 50 votes in. Conspiracy? I think not.
Well I’m at the anger stage. I pretty much hate Kris and want him to fail right now. Which sucks! Because I liked him all season. I thought he was the best in iTunes night, movie night and with Heartless (yes, even over my fave, Adam). But when I think of the rest of his performances and vs. Adam? Than I get all pissed off and hate that he won.
Stupid Arkansas.
I’ll move onto acceptance soon, but not there yet. Right now, anger and wishing him to epically fail.
Hmmm. Guess I was more invested in this win than I thought. And over a stupid music variety show. Oh well, hope I get back to ignoring and hating American Idol soon. Darn you Adam Lambert for making me watch and care again! And stupid Arkansas (had to be said again).
WOoooO HooooOOOOO!!! Kris won by a mile!!! Why am I not surprised!!! :lol_wp: :smoke_tb: :laugh_tb:
Is “No Boundaries” on iTunes now? I’ll give the studio version a shot even though lyrically it is awful.
ETA: WOW. I actually LOVE the studio version. Very catchy and stuck in my head….still though lyrics suck. Kris sounds great though. I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.
Yes sure, there are probably Adam fans who did spend a lot of time on the phones yesterday. But there is no news of a Californian vote in favor of Adam.
Furthermore this theory is not only supported by the news transcript, it is also supported by past editions of Idol (contestants who come from the South and small states always do well, look at the map of Idol winners, it is very telling).
And by the hometown visit last week, with a huge amount of people there to support Kris.
If this kind of crowd was taught how to vote efficiently, the sky is the limit for the number of votes they could cast in four hours.
The increase didn’t begin with the finale, in fact the most impressive total was last week with 88 million votes during 2 hours.
Just for the record I voted the whole 4 hours for Kris. More busy signals than ever before. Even switching between the numbers for him. I had 1 hour that I barely got through at all. I also voted on my cell… and not one call in the whole time went through. (Verizon) I just got all circuits busy and in the last hour I got this is not a working number. I tried Adam on the cell just to see and got the same message. So it was not a voting thing… Kris fans had the same probs as Adam fans. He won.
And why is it at all questionable that the votes were mostly — indeed, overwhelmingly — for Kris?
If the DialIdol raw votes from Arkansas are an accurate reflection of the overall vote from the state (and I certainly recognize that they might not be), it would be closer to 95%.
Why? Where does the 16 million figure come from? Because that would make the overall winning margin small? Why is it hard to believe that he won by a wide margin?
Not if text votes are a significant part of the mix.
Why? Where are you coming up with 140 million? Plus, with texting, busy signals aren’t a factor.
Kris Allen: The Reluctant Idol. :wub_tb:
Good lord in heavens. For Kris or for Adam? XD
Kris was gaining momentum. He was starting to have more spins on radios than Adam (and POP spins) and starting to sell more too (not saying he sold more than Adam, but more than he was selling previously).
Everybody was saying that it was too close to call and now that Kris won the only explanation for his victory was that Arkansas gave him 38 million votes? That doesn’t make sense.
And from the two rumors that appeared today it is easier to believe in what Billy Bush twittered. It is more a fact that Kris won by a good amount of votes than the Arkansas thing. Still, the Arkansas thing probabaly is what made him win by a large margin. What i am trying to say is. Kris would probably win anyway, but by a small amount of votes, if Arkansas didn’t vote like crazy.
It seems strange to me that any state would get so invested in who wins American Idol, and yet, some small states do for some reason.
I have no doubt that Kris received almost all the votes in Arkansas, no matter how many were actually cast there. It doesn’t seem like a state that would go for an Adam type singer, and also there is the matter of loyalty which seems to have been a factor too.
This theory only works if American idol “VOTERS” are the only ones who buy albums. Doesn’t hold up IMO.
The work begins now: bottom line.
People need to realise that mainstream America loves Kris’s type of persona and average Joe status, hence propelling him to victory. It’s no surprise really. Look at all the footage about his family, his humility and perfect lifestyle. Everything about Kris screams perfect role model. Mostly he got the tween vote, BUT i can safely say THOUSANDS of grandmas and grandpas, aunties and uncles, all love Kris’s demeanour and probably voted for him too. Besides that, HE ACTUALLY HAS TALENT. So really, it’s not a bad win. Adam just happen to be on the other side of controversy and extremity, which is fine, i think he has got one of a kind voice, but not ALL OF America would like it. How many haters have you heard thrashing Adam since he joined AI? And how many haters on Kris? Hardly right?
Kris deserved the crown. Adam will be successful in his own way, so no losers here.
I voted my ass off for Kris yesterday and I’m psyched Kris won. :lol_tb:
Hey just to let you know that the 38 million from Arkansas was NOT just for Kris it was the total votes to all the AI numbers so both for Kris and Adam.
I’m not questioning it. I just thought it was best to state my assumptions up front. I don’t know for a fact that the majority of the votes were for Kris, so it is an assumption. I feel it is important to lay out the base assumptions in an argument. That’s all.
Well, if 19E states that it was by a wide margin, I will believe it. For now, I’m thinking the evidence that we do have (mainly DialIdol) would indicate that it was not a landslide. Thank you for the evidence that, at least in Arkansas, DialIdol indicates that the vote was 95% in Kris’s favour. If I am to believe that piece of evidence from DI, then I feel compelled to believe other evidence from it. I don’t think that DI is completely accurate, but it does give rough approximations.
Frankly, the press frequently fudges up the numbers when it comes to Idol votes. Especially the broadcast media where slips of the tongue are more common. Trust me, they almost always report that 100 million people voted and that the winner got 100 million votes. If I read that tomorrow in the paper, even though it is in a fact checked paper, I will not believe that 100 million people voted just once each and that Adam got not a single vote.
It is possible that 38 million people could vote in Arkansas, but I’d like to see some more solid evidence first before I believe it because it seems unlikely to me.
I don’t believe it either. If Kris had actually “blew Adam out of the water” It would have been to Idol’s benefit to announce the results like they did last year. 56% vs 44%. It reassures the public that the win was solid and that their guy was truly the best of the night. No one would be griping now that Kris won Idol because a lot of people voted against Adam or religious or lifestyle reasons. They would want Kris to have a very strong finish. Until Ryan says it, I wouldn’t believe it.
I have no idea if 38 million is correct, but Kris definitely had the geography going for him, in a way that Adam didn’t.
It’s obviously not a coincidence that almost all of the winners (maybe the only exception is Jordin when she was up against Blake from Seattle) come from smaller towns in the South or Midwest. I’m sorry, but people in San Diego and the rest of the state are not gonna give a crap about a hometown hero.
Good point, however, we don’t know his total vote count. Out of 100 million, was it maybe 75 million? We don’t know. It’s rumored to be a landslide.
I think a large number of his votes came from Arkansas, but I’m sure he had many votes from other places too. Did anyone watch the red carpet tonight? Celebrities were rooting for Kris as much as for Adam. He had wide appeal.
I always assumed Adam would win and I think he was consistently the best, but maybe his fans aren’t all the type to vote for hours and hours. Like Daughtry’s didn’t …
I don’t think you can extrapolate from a non-finale week to the finale. Every week my 2 hours of dialidol get me 600-800 votes. Yesterday 4 hours of dialidol got me just over 200 votes due to the much increased busy signals – if I were to extrapolate from last week, I should be getting 1200-1600 votes, which would be a factor of >6X off. For whatever reason, busy signal percentages were much higher during the finale than any other week in the season by an overall factor of >2X (sometimes about 6X) – this is reflected in the dialidol scores. When the busy signal percentage is double or triple (or in my case, 6 times) the week before, then logically there are fewer phone votes going through and the text votes become proportionately more important. If my experience holds for the rest of the country (which is unlikely but for the sake of argument) then this week’s phone votes would be only 1/6 of last week’s, and text votes would have to increase substantially to keep up. Since busy signals are irrelevant to text votes, and there are 4 hours rather than 2 to text, it would seem clear to me that this week text voting is much more important than regular phone calls than any other week, and with the vastly decreased number of phone votes going through, it’s possible to not have many more votes this week than last despite the longer voting period.
“I know for me personally, you keep getting bombarded with à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Adam is the best ever,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ from the media and judges but no one I knew was a fan or was voting for him.”
Where do you live? I live in Los Angeles, and everyone I knew who watches the show was an Adam fan and was voting for him.
If there is a wide margin, and the reason for that lies in the fact that one state voted in huge quantities, then I could understand them not wanting to announce that.
Whatever. It’s clear that Kris and Adam both have large, dedicated fan bases, and I think both will do very well.
I could also speculate that the Arkansas powervoting rumor was put out to counteract the blowout rumors. The media can go their merry way by saying that how can it not be a blowout wghen the whole of Arkansas voted. I’m betting they won’t investigate deeper. I’m interested to know that if you take out Arkansas, would Adam have won?
There shouldn’t have been a ‘vastly decreased number of phone votes getting through.’ If you weren’t getting through, that means someone else WAS getting through at the same time. Last week if you were getting through on a consistent basis, it probably means that less calls were coming in and more “space” between the votes, enabling you to get through more. (I hope that makes sense. I know what I’m trying to say but I’m not really sure how to say it.) Also, there was still twice the amount of time to vote, and thus more votes coming in.
I guess what I’m getting at is just because you personally weren’t able to get through as much doesn’t mean that as many (or more) votes weren’t coming in. In fact, I think it means the opposite.
From the east coast, I could only get in six votes in the first two hours voting for Kris. In the next hour, maybe ten. It was only in the last hour that the lines opend up , and even then there were a lot of times I still got busy signals. I got in maybe 70 or 80 votes the last hour. Mostly the line was just dead for the first two hours. When I tried Adam’s lines, it was no different.
Kris won, people voted more for him. That’s it. Congratulate him, he’s the American Idol.
We’ll call this the 49-state rule.
I am an Adam fan and I don’t doubt that Kris got more votes. I think the “why ” of it is the kicker. I think even the Kris fans can not with any security say that Kris won on talent alone (Heck, even Kris feels that way.). Talent alone would have only let him beat out Gokey. A lot of people voted against Adam rather than for Kris. Just read some of the hater-aide posted in the comments section of a lot of the news blogs. All sorts of crap about Adam that has nothing to do with Kris being a better singer or performer. I personally think Kris is solid, has had some nice moments ( loved Aint no Sunshine) But he really is not anything special. There are a lot of people like him on the radio today who are better. Take a listen to Matt (not sure of first name) Nathanson for example. So yes, Kris won, and won fairly and Adam is very happy for him and exciting about his own future and probably glad he does not have to sing No Boundaries as his first song but I don’t think anyone can say that talent and originality won the day. Loyal fans(and I know some awesome Kris fans) and a lot of bigotry won the day.
Arkansas population is the same as the population of San Diego county alone. Growing up in Sunny San Diego in a fast pace world I admit most of the time we barely have time to watch tv what more to vote for hours.
I don’t feel compelled to believe the other evidence, i.e. the scores based on busy signal. Those scores were wildly inaccurate with regard to Kris this season. So I’m inclined to say that it’s very generous to call them “rough approximations”.
(Not that I particularly believe the raw votes were an accurate indicator either — they were very much in favor of Allison for much of the season. I was simply struck by the 90-95% thing as an interesting relationship.)
ROFLMAO
it’s like the National Elections–only it’s Arkansas that had the deciding vote :P
Congratulations, Kris Allen! :)
Wow – I’m glad now that the actual figures were not released. I’m happy-sad right now since I do like both guys. But I would have felt worse to have it in black and white exactly by how much Adam lost to Kris …
Well then if that’s the case, who was the leak who spoke to Bilie Bush and claimed landslide, cuz that person was doing Adam no favors. It wouldn’t have come from an employee of Adam loving 19E if they want to keep their job. Was it someone from Sony BMG trying to protect their investment in easy to plug into an existing marketing model Kris? Maybe Sony would rather market Adam internationally where he’s not such a gamble, and market Kris in the US as the AMERICAN Idol where he fits in with the whole HAC acoustic rock set. Maube there has been infighting a bit between the Sony peeps and 19E/19R about who to pimp, with 19E loving the buzz Adam was generating while Sony kept holding out for one of those niche-y package artists that Kara kept yammering about. If that’s the case, the two sides might be playing dirty now releasing offsetting rumors. Sony says it was a landslide, so 19E counters with Arkansas’s crazy vote totals. My TCO is better than your TCO kind of thing? Just a wild guess.
I’m not surprised that a home state would go all out for a home boy. I got mostly a busy tone when trying to vote from WA state last night so I wasn’t able to get through much.
I liked both Adam and Kris and wasn’t sure which way I’d vote but chose to vote (or try to) for Adam. I am pleased for Kris, teeny bit sad for Adam but then I think that Adam won’t be constrained as much as Kris will be, contractually. Adam has a very bright future no worries there so he has won, plus he won’t have to sing that dorky coronation song.
Kris’ natural modesty rose up again when straight off he acknowledged Adam deserving to win. I think Kris is just gobsmacked that he won.
Ok, I’m from Arkansas and I have a couple of things to say about this:
First of all, I don’t think this story is true. It is HIGHLY unlikely not only that Arkansas got THAT many votes in, but that on 64 million or whatever votes were from the rest of the country.
Second, AT&T is HUGE in Arkansas. It’s either AT&T or Alltel and Alltel sucks. Everyone I know is on AT&T. Power texting could have given Kris 38 million in text votes. And I don’t think all of his support came from Conway. His wife went to school in Fayetteville and he has tons of support there and all over the state (and adjoining states).
Finally, there is no conspiracy here. If Arkansans voted 38 million times and that’s how Kris won, so be it. All other states had the same opportunity to deliver that many votes but didn’t. Too bad. There’s no voter fraud here. C’mon. But I also don’t think this is real.
But I am so glad that although Kris and Adam fans might be at each others’ throats for a month or whatever, the two of them remain incredibly supportive and happy for one another. Couldn’t have picked a better top two.
Oh, and I have AT&T and power texted and got in 6750 votes for Kris. 38 million in a state of 3 million is TOTALLY possible. But I still have my doubts. Who would even know and why would they release it?
does anyone have a link to the idol extra interview that adamisthemanfan was talking about???
here is an interesting one from E!online
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b125143_American_Idols_Runner-Up_Adam_Lambert_quotIt_Felt_So_Goodquot.html
already throwing the “are you or arent you” questions at adam. jeeze. give the kid a night to process!
I live in Los Angeles and everyone I know who watches the show is a Kris fan and was voting for him. (personally, I liked both and would have been ok with whoever won, but preferred Kris so I voted for him)
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1537996
“Those boots are mine” ha ha <3
You just proved how much it IS possible! LOL! And why would they say that? I’m guessing because they’re stupidly proud of their feat.
here is another good one with some tidbits from the guys
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/americanidoltracker/2009/05/scenes-from-nokia-theatre-despite-loss-the-lamberts-stay-in-harmony.html
I have only read a few posts here, but I must say that I had shades of last year all over again, when I absolutely could not get through on any line for Kris for the first three hours after the show. I live in the Chicago area. Out of curiosity, I finally dialed Adam’s numbers, and I got through on 2 of the 3 lines. It wasn’t until 11:00 that I could finally get in votes for Kris. This happened last year when I voted for David Cook as well. I knew that probably meant a good outcome for Kris, but it was very frustrating for me personally. Congratulations to Kris.
I also think it was strange that Ryan didn’t announce the percentages. Perhaps they didn’t want to make either one feel uncomfortable. I do feel if it had been close, they would have said that like they did the week prior when they announced they were only a million votes apart.
MJ posted an article about the average viewers who watch the show, but don’t go online. I do think there are many people who vote based on the show and don’t do any research outside of just watching it. My Fox News station said that young girls decide the winner, and that the teens had clearly fallen for Kris. Also, Kris was getting better and better each week, and you could just feel and see the progression. Also, I think the judges or producers were wrong in thinking big 80’s rock is making a comeback. I think Jason Mraz and that type of music is much stonger right now. Maybe Jason Castro fans voted in big numbers for Kris. Maybe Adam just peaked too soon in the competition. Maybe Adam had a cougar thing going for him, but not enough teen fans. Who knows. Either way, Kris and Adam have a chance at an amazing career. Good luck to both men.
Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ natural modesty rose up again when straight off he acknowledged Adam deserving to win. I think Kris is just gobsmacked that he won
___________________
As well as he should be, since he didn’t deserve to
i live in LA too isisdagmar , and besides my sis, everyone i knew voted for kris (men and women..no teens or tweens)…..just saying ;)
You’re absolutely right. I believe Kris won fair and square, even if I think Adam was the better singer overall and should have won. The voting system on Idol is ridiculous in my opinion, which is one reason I mostly quit voting years ago (except for isolated cases). At my age I don’t have time or desire to spend 2 or 4 hours voting for a singer. It’s a dumb system they have and many factors affect the outcome.
I felt sorry for Kris when he said that Adam should have won. His honesty (about his feelings) impressed me. He’s a very impressive guy. He was great tonight with Keith Urban too. (But Adam was phenomenal again and again.)
I learned years ago it’s a waste of time to feel bitter about the outcome or worry too much about it. It’s more important how they do in the real world, after the show ends. That’s what really counts. Now they have to work really hard to build a career.
This illustrates my point that the voting system for this show is ridiculous.
I remember in season 1, there was a big stink about power voting (from Texans) for Nicki McKibbon. The following season, the producers declared that power voting was no longer possible, that they had ways to detect and discount it.
Then they started allowing texting, which is nothing if not power voting, and it’s also slanted towards those who have at&t. Total crapola.
What else really needs to be said? This bickering and trash talking is so pointless.
Well I mean it IS of course possible. But it would take a lot of people power texting. I just don’t think it’s possible that only 64 million votes came from the other 49 states. I’m sure when anyone from a state like Arkansas reaches the top of American Idol, their state is going to deliver a ton of votes for them…isn’t Carrie from Oklahoma? I’m sure they delivered a ton of votes for her.
But the bottom line is that everyone had the opportunity to vote as many times as they pleased during the 4 hours (it did help to be able to text votes though…BIG TIME). But there’s no source here, so I’m not totally buying it yet.
And if Billy Bush said it was a blowout, then obviously the other 64 million votes or whatever where not ridiculously lopsided for Adam.
And we are proud that Kris Allen, a lifelong Arkansan, is the American Idol. And I’m glad I voted for him.
I lived in San Diego and most of my friends, family and relative dont watch American Idol except for me lol
MJ
the 38 million votes thing is true
http://www.robbiewills.com/2009/05/20/american-idol-votes-are-in/
mind u this is coming straight from arkansas house of rep robbie wills…..
personally, im kind of upset, i think this really distorted the results. THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE AMERICAN IDOL NOT ARKANSAS IDOL!!!….
I was hitting redial on a landline for Adam, and every once in awhile got the message “Thanks for voting for contestant #2.” Someone on another site mentioned they’d gotten the same message – in ONE OUT OF FIVE CALLS.
Re Arkansas Idol – Kris is such an honest, decent, fair play sort of guy. I can’t imagine he’d be comfortable with this. I’m surprised his fans think this is acceptable.
ETA: I’m surprised AI thinks this is okay. And this isn’t bickering – I think it’s legitimate to be shocked by this – that 40% of the votes came from one state.
Someone has already tried to correct this upthread, but since it got missed I’ll repeat:
38 million was the total votes from Arkansas, not the total votes for Kris
It’s reasonable to assume that a lot of those votes went to Kris, but please stop treating this as Kris’ vote total. Also, according Dial Idol – and their statistics still hold – the busy signals for both guys in Arkansas were just about even. I know it doesn’t include text votes, but that does tend to lean towards a closer split in that state than is being discussed.
I believe Billy Bush. He has no reason to lie, and the producers – who love Adam – have every reason to want to keep quiet that their boy got trounced. I think the media hype was just that. Media hype. Even if it wasn’t real, it doesn’t make Adam any less awesome. It just means the media got it wrong.
Allison going out third didn’t make her any less awesome either.
And now the Arkansas GOVERNMENT is confirming this!! This is priceless!! LOL!
Sorry but I think anyone who watches the show each year knows how lopsided the voting can be. Every year there are situations. Again, the voting system of American Idol is crap, pure crap. They could make it more fair, but they don’t want to change it.
That is my experience with the parts of California I’m familiar with too. I’m sure there are areas of CA where people are really into Idol, but overall, the state is not as into it, especially a sophisticated coastal city like San Diego.
I’m glad that last year there was no major voting anomaly like this. There was no hint of the two Davids either one receiving votes from any large voting block. It gave the outcome a more fair feeling overall.
i think they should change the voting system like dancing with the stars, i know they wont be able to boast on how much votes the show supposedly gets get but at least it be kind of fair
This show is a joke. No disrespect to Kris but the look on his face (after Ryan told him the “good” news) said it all, he knew that vocally he couldn’t hold Adam Lambert’s jock. I seriously doubt that anyone at Idol is counting votes to begin with and this (38 million number) Arkansas get out the vote nonsense beyond ridiculous. Arkansas has a population of less than 3 million people, the idea that everyone in the state was behind this guy and dialing is a joke. I think when the math is done it will be obvious that Idol picks and chooses which “votes” they will count.
And Billy Bush is a piece of dung, he would read whatever they put up on his teleprompter.
“I got in (she admitted pathetically) 80,000 votes last night (my best estimate after timing how many I was getting out in a minute), all on my own in 4 hours of voting with a cheap nokia gophone.”
Dang, I thought I did well with ~20,000 all by my lone self. My phone won’t let me make a group of more than 8 numbers. Kris’s fan site had instructions for power texting, and Adam fan site followed suit. My DialIdol working the landline just hung half an hour or so into the voting window. I had to give up and work landline with one hand and the cell phone with the other. Dial Idol was functinal again when my fingers started to ache and I tried again. Good thing that although my younger day piano practices didn’t make me a musician at least it helped me develop strong fingers. :-)
I am Californian. I can easily see Arkansas throwing in 38 million votes. It is not that hard if you know to power-text. In most parts of California communities are not as tight as in some other parts of this country and band well together. I wouldn’t dream of walking out the door and chatting to my neighbors which Idol contestants they’d vote for. I do not like to impose my taste on others, so have not actually tried to campaign for Adam. I would resent it if someone else tried to shove their style down my throat. I do know some who liked Danny & Adam who started to send their votes to Adam after Danny got voted off, along with some who loved Allison and threw their votes to Kris and Adam when she got booted. I am a huge Adam fan because I happen to like his style. I tend to fall asleep on albums with 12 songs that sound more or less the same, to me. Give me a balld, give me a shrier, give me a dance pop all on one CD, I will play it on repeat as I do all of Adam’s performances songs. I had never watched American Idol intentionally before Adam showed up. Because he is interesting. I am not Christian, not a Christian hater, never ridiculed Danny for his wife, avoided reading articles about Adam’s sexuality because it is not very interesting. by the same token, I don’t care if Britney has another baby or if Brad Pitt breaks up with Angelina Jolie. I did make fun of his scream. But since this was a “singing” competition and he put himself out there I think I am entitled to that kind of amusement. And this will be the first and last season I ever care about AI. Kris won the votes. Does it matter who voted and who got how many more? I don’t buy the conspiracy theory. Yeah, phone lines getting jammed and people who stop then might influence the output somewhat. But you know what? If you want to accomplish something, you have to organize and do it smart. Kris either had many fans or his fans were well-organized and smart. You compete while the game lasts and when it is over, let it be and just congratulate the winner. Kris is a very likable guy. Frankly, I am kind of glad Adam didn’t get stuck with that dung of a song for his first single. I am sure Kris can work something out and salvage what he can from the useless garbage that redundant “judge” likes to call a song.
I don’t think the media got it wrong. I think that Adam was the better singer as well as performer and artist too. Kris is talented but not on a par with Adam at this point. I agree with the media who thought that Adam was phenomenal.
Just how did the media get it wrong? It’s their opinion that Adam was the best singer, that’s a fair opinion. They didn’t say he would win, but that he was the best and should win, there’s a difference there.
The whole ’38 million votes’ business is just another instance of why you generally have people win Idol that are from smaller towns in the South. Good luck getting all of San Diego or L.A. or NY together for a nite to vote for their hometown favorite on Idol! It’s not gonna happen, but in Conway, Ark. it may well be a pleasant way for neighbors to spend an evening. Interesting tell-tale sign of this a few weeks ago…. when Kris went for his hometown parade he mentioned that 20 thousand people were on hand, roughly one half the population of Conway. Could you possibly imagine getting half the population of San Diego to turn out for Lambert for a parade? Of course not. The way to change this would be to curb the multiple voting per person, which could be done but then Idol would have to be willing to give up the hype of saying there were 100 million votes. Probably not going to happen either.
Anyway, I’m happier to hear this sort of explanation than one of ‘sexual orientation’ or some other nonsense. No one broke the rules here, no one was “immoral” so what’s really the gripe? Lambert will have as good a career whether he was first or second. BTW, the people mentioning that it might be better for him on some contractual basis are absolutely wrong. Idol has contracts in hand for the top finishers, I believe in fact it’s the top 5. They can control #2 as much as #1.
A state congressman from Arkansas? Not my idea of a trustworthy source.
edit how about not lecturing people
Look, everyone had the opportunity to vote not just Arkansas. Everyone had the same amount of time and ability to vote. Arkansas just took in their favorite son and voted hardcore. California had the same opportunity to rally behind Adam. If every person in the state voted ONCE for Adam it would of equalled Kris’s Arkansas votes. Shoot, The CITY of San Diego has half the population that the STATE of Arkansas has. Kris has some hardcore fans that are genuinely proud of him like they know him, now I’m not saying Adam doesn’t have hardcore fans but I don’t think he tugged at the hearts of an entire state like Kris did.
Also, the living room factor is really a player in the results. Kris gives his fans the feeling that he could be in their living room playing to them and only to them. Where Adam is very theatrical and almost like a fantasy movie. He is spectacular but you can’t imagine him in your living room doing that.
I love both of these guys so much. They are so different in so many ways and connect with me on completely different level. I love them!
So if it’s due to Arkansas that Kris won, can we blame California for Adam losing?
Sure go ahead LOL.
Robie88, great points about small southern towns versus large urban cities etc.
These points about regional voting blocks have come up time and again, beginning as I said in the first season with Nikki McKibbon (Texas) and then there was Jasmine (Hawaii) and Carmen (Utah) and others. This is not a plot against Kris, folks, it’s just a discussion about the strange voting habits of Idol watchers. Most of us aren’t trying to disparage Kris …
Thank you!
The count doesn’t matter anymore. Kris won. I am just happy that Adam gave his bestest performance until the end. Kris got the title. Congratulations. But both of them will be given the same opportunity to be successful. Adam have the backing of Simon (he’s going to make him a huge star) and Hollywood is ready to embrace Adam in their industry. He won’t be looking for jobs anymore but jobs will be pouring to him. Just can’t wait for the summer tour to be over so that Adam can concentrate on a one-man concert and recording. Still loving Adam….the best even if he may be gay.
Sorry, but I don’t buy that as “proof” of anything. For all we know, he read the same thing that MJ did. Until AT&T actually post some kind of statement or we get some other valid source, I’m still not putting too much faith in this.
Who knows what can be accomplished. On the local CT news there was a lady who voted 54,000 times for Adam using 3 computers in 2 different time zones last nite. Maybe Arkansas had a group of highly motivated fans like this lady all working together.
I’m in San Diego and I couldn’t get through at all for Kris for about 3 hours. This in a town where last year for Finale I hit busy signals for all of 15 mins voting for Cook, then all clear.
Good on Arkansas for supporting their hometown Idol. No one was stopping the entire great state of CA for voting for whomever they wish.
I don’t get all the “unfair” complaints when everyone votes under the same rules.
People don’t vote in California.. Their is enough stars and paparazzi there..
My theory is if you assume 99 million total votes and 38 million came from Arkansas then lets say Kris got 37 million and Adam got 1 million there then that leaves 61 million for the rest of the country.
So.. lets say Kris won 54 million to 45 million (if it was even that), that would mean that Adam got 44 million to 17 Million for Kris outside of Arkansas for 72% of the voting to Adam outside of Kris home state..
While I don’t know the exact figures I would not be surprised if it was around here and even give or taking a few million it still would show Adam running over Kris if he didn’t have such a hometown support.
thank you so much for the link GeminiDolly!! those were great interviews.
i feel a lot better after reading/watching interviews of both of them. i wanted adam to win with all my heart but i truly think this is all going to be inconsequential in the grand scheme of both of their soon-to-be-on-fire careers. adam especially is probably getting tons of calls as we speak.
congrats kris, you might not have been my fave but you are a good man and will do great. and thank you for being a sweet partner in crime for adam.
KRADAM FTW!
see you all back here next year!
But you’re assuming a zero-sum argument and I don’t think that holds. A zero-sum argument would require assuming that from week to week there is the same capacity and accessibility at both ends: at AI receiving the phone votes and from phones sending the votes. I don’t think you can assume the capacity is the same at AI every week since there are different #s of phone lines being used each week. Early on there were 13 numbers used each week, this week Adam and Kris each had 3 numbers so there were 6 numbers altogether. Last week with 3 idols, each still had 3 numbers, so 9 numbers altogether. Does this imply greater phone vote capacity at the AI end when there are 9 lines vs 6? Possibly. We have no idea really, but having diminished phone vote capacity for whatever reason from F3 to F2 week would give at least a partial explanation to why the vote tally is not much greater for F2 despite doubling the voting period. And it would also explain the tremendous increase in busy signal percentage from F3 to F2. i.e. if each AI phone number can handle 10 million votes in 2 hours, then during F3 with 9 lines there’s a total max of 90 million; during F2 with 6 lines there’s a total max of 60 million in 2 hours. Same number of people voting 1/3 fewer lines = higher percentage busy signals. 1/3 fewer lines = fewer votes allowed through for the same time period.
wow, i didn’t realize that had that type of bandwidth! i thought i read something before hand about why certain things are hard to call into and what not. but wow. at least they can’t blame it as an anti-Adam thing. that type of dedication is obviously pro-Kris.
Actually, i was calling in for both of them, and both their lines opened up at the same time so i don’t know what to make of that. i live in ca
I don’t know where to ask this. What is Kris’s wife name?
BlankSlate: Katy is Kris’s wife’s name.
i think this would be a better media story (the small town that could) than the america is homophobe scenario (i even think this would dismiss the latter scenario )
holeighannie– THANKS so much.
I think Kris took Simon’s advice and kept her out of the limelight as much as possible after her initial on-camera time. We saw more of his dad…
BlankSlate: You’re welcome. :) Haha, you could be right…she always looked upset, to me, for some reason so I’d rather see more of Kris’s adorable dad anyway, lol.
I don’t think Kris did that, she was at almost every show and when she was the camera showed her in the friends/family reaction shots. more than we saw of carly’s husband last year anyway, lol.
BlankSlate ~ As far as I know, Katy was always there. The show chose not to show her to focus on his dad, which was a better story. He’s totally adorable, just like his son.
well I know a whole lotta people from Michigan were voting for Kris..
.well I know a whole lot that were voting for Adam..
.er….so what am I saying???
I don’t know …a lotta votes were cast for BOTH!!!
It’s a Mad World.
Adam, you’ve got a Whole Lotta Love and you can clearly see the Tracks of our Tears. We Can’t Get No Satisfaction! If We Can’t Have You, We Don’t Want Nobody, Baby. We’re not Feelin’ Good right this minute, we’re Cryin’. But things are never Black and White and we’re already deep in this Ring of Fire for you. You were Born to be Wild and believe One thing, A Change is Gonna Come.
It’s a Mad World.
Adam, you’ve got a Whole Lotta Love and you can clearly see the Tracks of our Tears. We Can’t Get No Satisfaction! If We Can’t Have You, We Don’t Want Nobody, Baby. We’re not Feelin’ Good right this minute, we’re Cryin’. But things are never Black and White and we’re already deep in this Ring of Fire for you. You were Born to be Wild and believe One thing, A Change is Gonna Come.
It’s a Mad World.
Adam, you’ve got a Whole Lotta Love and you can clearly see the Tracks of our Tears. We Can’t Get No Satisfaction! If We Can’t Have You, We Don’t Want Nobody, Baby. We’re not Feelin’ Good right this minute, we’re Cryin’. But things are never Black and White and we’re already deep in this Ring of Fire for you. You were Born to be Wild and believe One thing, A Change is Gonna Come.
Prejudice overcomes tallent.
WHAT A MAD WORLD!
Tattoo Face! I miss him, haha.
Absolutely. I have no doubt that this disproportionate number of votes from Arkansas cost Adam the title. Strip out the majority of these votes (i.e. leaving a normal amount) and I’m sure the outcome tonight would have been far different. Probably lopsided in favor of Adam. It was a very organized effort by the entire state. Probably the biggest thing that’s happened there since Bill Clinton. The hometown visits should have been a clue that these folks were serious about winning.
Check back in a year to get the real world results, which actually matter.
My guess?
Kris will not be a huge breakout star but do well enough for Idol. He has a radio friendly voice. I don’t think he will outsell Cook though. He’s cute, has a good voice and that shit sells, but he won’t produce anything ground breaking.
Adam? I have no idea what to say. Polarizing works for a lot of artists. And I think it works for him. I just hope he is able to be the artist he wants to be, and be successful at it. I think he will still be the more talked about one in a year.
ETA: As an Adam fan. I’m really glad he did not have to release that crappy coronation song. It doesn’t fit him in the least. I never really got those songs. They basically just sit in the recording studio for a few hours trying to sing a song that they had no part of. What is the whole point of Idol at that point?
Kris’s wife was always there- and visible in the audience–yes. But we really knew nothing about her. I don’t believe she ever talked on camera. I think Kris made a good move in that respect.
whats done is done…..i guess this is arkansas answer to the producer’s unfair pimping
I still think that Adam did NOT receive TEXT VOTES last night.
I never received ANY confirmations all night, for him on -01.
Congrats to Kris, though… but, I’m suspicious of a “blowout”.
edit: I suggest you read my guidelines. The lecturing and finger-wagging is a no no. Don’t tell posters how to behave.
As a Kris fan in Oklahoma no one that I know who voted received a confirmation text last night.
I hope after a good night’s sleep (or a nice, relaxing memorial day weekend), the sour grapes and fanwars die down. I love me some Adam and I voted for him but I can totally understand why people voted for Kris. The guy is talented and incredibly likeable. He also has a voice meant for radio, be it acoustic based pop music or some sort of foray into country. “No Boundaries” works better for Kris, much like DC made the magic rainbow work for him. Both Adam and Kris will work on debut albums during the tour. 10 years from now it really will not matter, both are going. to. be. fine.
Umm…. Adam’s studio version of that craptastic coronation song is now on itunes. He does the best one can with it, I think. Also, “Is Anybody Listening?” has just been released on itunes as a single as well. Interesting….
I don’t really care how Kris got more votes, he did, he won, he’s the AI. I’m a nerd though so sometimes I am tempted to analyze a bit.
How does he know that 38 million votes came from Arkansas?
How can that be verified? Also Ruben and Carrie’s states overwhelmingly voted for them. Most small states get behind their fellow state contestants. California and the east don’t do that much.
Guys, AI is only a vehicle, it’s not the be-all, end-all.
The top ten will either make it (or not) based on their abilities after the show.
Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, Archileto, etc prove that just as others will go to the TV ‘announcer’ way; Kim Caldwell, Justin, et all.
Adam is pretty shrewd and has used the AI vehicle…he is known and fought over now. I think Adam needs to go over to the UK and have a hoot-n-nanny with BGT’s Kevin Pritchard LOL.
Adam is gonna be all over the place this next year. No need to worry about him.
To be fair, where was Adam’s boyfriend?
It won’t let me buy them. Even though I wasn’t going to I tried and it doesn’t let me.
I live in California and my Friends and I voted hundreds of times for Kris Allen.
Ruben and Carrie’s states voted heavily for them…DUH.
Yep, that is what I think.
“I still think that Adam did NOT receive TEXT VOTES last night.”
I got a confirmation text at about 8:00 am on Wed morning.
I’m sorta getting used to Kris being the winner. The best thing is that I’m so glad Adam doesn’t have to sing NB anymore.
Love all these clips from AI Extra.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1538111
Kris says again that Adam deserves this and that Adam is the most gifted performer on the show and that he loves him to death.
It makes me happy to see their geniune love and friendship for each other.
I also loved what all the idols said about Adam. They all seemed to really love him. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1538005
Also loved hearing Rock With You audition song! http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1537996
Too bad he didn’t sing it on the show. I guess he really did wear his Zodiac boots!
What Cakenbake said.
Also, LOL, Billy Bushism:
“Kris blew out Adam”
Bahahahahahaha, hott
Weird. I bought them both a few minutes ago, easily. Did you click on “buy album”? Clicking on the title or icon doesn’t work for me.
Cinemaniac86…I can imagine it the other way around…lol
Thank you for being the voice of reason. I am an Adam fan and I am totally ok with the results now. I was disappointed at first but looking back it really doesn’t matter that much. So I lose pool points, lol, oh well. Kris did equally well during the season and his arrangements were beautiful so I am happy that he won. How can you not like the guy, he is so sweet. As for the votes, I think Kris probably did win in a landslide and got lots of votes from other states too. America preferred him over Adam, that’s it. It’s all good! The 38 million votes is interesting but I think Adam got a good chunk of those votes too. :) I am sure Ryan will leak who got what tomorrow. Congrats to Kris again, good luck to all of them, it’s been a crazy ride this year.
Allison FTW!!!
:wub_tb:
I just bought Adam’s No Boundaries, just to see what it would sound like.
I love Adam, but hate this super corny song, it’s so not him. I really love his studio recording of A Change is Gonna Come. I’d recommend that instead.
You’re not the only one. It’s really disheartening to see all the stuff that people are coming up with to undermine Kris’ win. Of course, this was all to be expected. I knew that if Kris won, we would all be hearing this kind of stuff. Wish I could say I was happy to be proven correct, but…
Despite that bastion of truth Perez, Adam doesn’t seem to be dating anyone seriously, so no steady boyfriend to show up week after week.
Sorry, I find this interesting and quite relevant (I will be waiting to hear if this is true or not, but it’s not impossible), and that’s not sour grapes. I got over being annoyed an hour after the show ended. Still, this is definitely a more palatable story than America is a bunch of Christian homophobes. To be honest, if true, while in the rules of AI, it won’t due Kris any favors, but I do not hold that against him and it’s not his fault. I still like the guy.
I just looked at Adam’s iTunes Video Favorites Album and there are Popularity bars showing. Mad World, Tracks of my Tears and Ring of Fire were the top 3 in that order. I doesn’t include the Top2 stuff.
I heard that Adam’s NB studio sounds good too. Although I thought Kris sounded great tonight! Did they lower the key for him or something else?
I want to just get this question out of the way first, something that’s been dangling a bit over you for the whole season: Would you like to put to rest all the speculation about your sexuality?
It’s not dangling over my head. [Laughing] It may be dangling over yours, but it’s not over mine. Yeah, I think speculation keeps things really interesting.
So you don’t want to say anything one way or the other?
Like I said, I think speculation keeps things very, very interesting. [Laughs]
All right. What was it like singing with Queen and Kiss tonight?
Oh my god, what an honor. Queen is like one of my all time favorite rock bands, and then to be up on stage with Kiss with the pyro and the costumes — I mean, it was a dream come true. It was awesome.
You were called a front-runner from the very beginning. Did you feel that pressure?
I didn’t feel it as pressure. I felt it as support. I felt like they were very encouraging early on, and that really helped me feel like I could take the risks that I took, you know? Had it not been for that support, I probably wouldn’t have done as well in the competition.
Your friendship with Kris has been pretty amazing to watch. On paper, you don’t necessarily have a lot in common. What brought you guys together?
Yeah. We were roommates, so we were kind thrown in together, and he’s just like a really open minded, good person. He’s got a great view of the world. We share a lot of philosophies on the world, even though we have different backgrounds. You know, I’ve learned a lot about his relationship with his wife. She’s great. We’ve hung out. He’s just a good guy, you know?
So you’re happy he won?
I’m so happy for him. He deserves it. He’s so talented, and he’s a good person
My last point on the Arkansas 38 million vote thing. The clause that runs at the end of the show:
“Production will have in place weekly monitoring procedures designed to prevent individuals from unfairly influencing the outcome of the voting by generating significant blocks of votes using technical enhancements. The producers reserve the right to remove any identified “power dialing” votes.”
I doubt the producers would run this if they didn’t use it. It is highly likely that the number of votes coming out of Arkansas is much higher than the number of votes being counted from Arkansas. So 40% of the vote total is probably way off since, as has been pointed out, some people texted 10s of thousands of times. Those votes were probably thrown out.
That’s for those who create software that make it possible to vote faster than humanly possible, not your average power voter.
Besides, if this is true and the story gets out, I wouldn’t put it past TPTB to enjoy this sort of media.
This made my whole week!
But you can’t definitely say that he has or hasn’t got a boyfriend. Or that he was (and is still) hiding a boyfriend?
p.s. Everyone was speculating that Britney was going to be on Idol but Perez said no. He was right. Just sayin’.
I think Kris took Simonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s advice and kept her out of the limelight as much as possible after her initial on-camera time. We saw more of his dadà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦
I remember seeing Kris’ wife in the audience all the time. In fact, I think I heard Justin Guarini say that Kris said his wife was his good-luck charm. I don’t see what is so wrong with showing her, and for Simon to say to keep her hidden is disrespectful. She is his wife, the closest person to him. If she looked upset, I don’t blame her after that comment. Phil Stacey’s wife, Kendra, was in the audience all the time; in fact, she moved out to LA with their daughters to be near him. Phil said that he could not have done what he did without her, and he showed it in his first single, “If You Didn’t Love Me.” It would have been nice to have heard from Kris’ wife like we have from his dad.
Gossip from an after partygoer:
http://survivorsucks.yuku.com/reply/4448894#reply-4448894
VFTW lays Zabasearch to rest. It’s about time!
And you have no proof he has a boyfriend. Meanwhile Adam says he’s not dating anybody seriously and others around him support that. That’s enough for me. The supposed gossip with him at Outback, was proven to be a bunch of hooey. So yeah, Adam doesn’t have what he considers a boyfriend. So moving on to something certainly more relvant…
Heard both studio versions of the Crapination song. Yep. Still sucks as a song. Good that the vocals were of course cleaned up and fit with versions of the song, by both men. I don’t see how either one would be popular without the AI machine behind them. Even given the sorry state of American popular music, I don’t see people listening/buying it just because they came across it.
All I know is that there was an implication that Kris hid his wife as strategy. Adam denying he has a boyfriend while others around him supporting that assertion could also be a strategy, you know. This is a guy who has been coy about the truth, since the beginning.
From another board:
To make Adam fans feel better, just watch him perform with Queen, KISS and Santana. He is a STAR! He definitely broke the show!
This. Made. My. Night!!!
Yaaaaaayyy! Go Lava Girl (tm Little Spense)!!
Actually I thought Kris, Adam and Danny were all equally terrible with Santana. None of them brought a latin vibe. Matt on the other hand should have been given the enitre Santana set.
I am sad that Adam lost, but I do not think it matters a wit. Both Kris and Adam have been given the same future opportunities. And Adam will be able to rest his voice during the tour.
I would like it if Adam would tone down his facial expressions as he sings-a bit too theater for me. His voice? Out of this world.
AI is a reality show, and popularity contest. Remember that Allison also was let go to soon, as well as Alexis Grace. Yet somehow Megan-who I’m sorry, can’t sing, hung on way too long.
It’s his life, he does not need to tell anybody a damn thing.
Way to go Adam, a big raspberry to the press and Perez “Smarmy” Hilton, too.
Starting to feel better after dancing around my lounge room to Adam and Kiss for a while tonight – I just grin like a loon everytime I rewatch that. False eyelashes and sparkly tears and rhinestone shoulder wings and standing on the judges desk in his big old zodiac burning man boots while OWNING the whole damn Nokia – just the look on his face while he was singing Beth makes me all warm and gooey deep down inside. He won the night and the season at that moment – this is your superstar.
And he is my American Idol and I don’t care what the zombie voting tween masses of Arkansas say. To paraphrase Fried Green Tomatoes “I am bigger and I have more money” – so I think I know who will win this thing in the end!
But here’s one thing that really bugs me – I really would have loved Adam to get that stupid statue Idol trophy – would have made a great door stop for his bathroom!
I am going to go out on a limb and guess that Arkansas won’t be this excited about Kris a year from now. AI has become a battle of technology and not music. Not to mention that the tween’s will have moved on to someone different a month from now.
I am just watching the crowning for the first time this morning – is it my imagination or did three of them give Kris a standing O while Simon remained in his chair. Ouch.
I feel for Adam. If we thought the media speculation on Adam’s sexuality was bad before, it’s going to go overboard now. Although, I’m not sure why I feel for Adam, he doesnt’ seemed phased by it at all. I guess I feel for myself since I’m going to get tired of that being the first question asked every.single.time.
I do think Adam is genuinely happy for Kris, for not winning(I mean come on, he dodged a huge bullet with No Boundaries)
But I must give my congrats to Arkansas they knew how to get it done, I just wonder if it will reflect the nation.
I think if that alone hadn’t happened, Adam would have won. With that many votes coming in from ARkansas alone, Adam was steamrolled by Kris in votes.
Yep Bridgeymah, a door stop…or a hood ornament at least! LOL
I agree. I do think to some exent this result was a backlash to the judge’s and media pimping. I’ve only been watching the show for two years–I know the judge’s pimping is always there, but were past contestants featured on covers of magazines like EW and given Rolling Stone headlines about how they singlehandedly saved idol even before they’d won?
I noticed last night that Ryan didn’t announce any percentages plus I don’t believe we got any shots of the judges when the results were announced.
FWIW, the teens at my house said they thought Kris won because people wanted an idol they could connect with more.
I bet TPTB will be holding a lot of pow-wows over this outcome.
There were only 1 million votes separating them the week before so if Kris got 30 million votes from Arkansas, he could beaten Adam in a landslide. That’s probably why Ryan didn’t mention how many votes separated the two last night.
If AT&T is huge in Arkansas as one poster mentioned, it could also explain a lot. Where I live hardly anyone has AT&T.
I’m not unhappy with this outcome. If 19 signs the top 4, I am sure they will beat the bushes as they do every year for singles that will establish these guys. Look at Jordin Sparks who couldn’t sell any concert tickets; they got two solid hits for her, tho album sales would not follow commensurately.
My contention (or if I was the fantasy executive) is I would NOT discount a passionate organized vote from Kris’ home state. Haven’t TPTB nullified the vote enough this season?
If Kris has shown them demos of songs he’s written himself, and they’re good, that’s one more reason to just let it ride.
Gokey can be signed to Verity, the Zomba gospel label and make the album he wants to make. I think he can be a breakthrough artist for gospel, since he was willing to go on AI and compete; I can see him on QVC really shilling his music. He’s perfectly capable of coming with a “Butterfly Kisses” kind of record.
I am sure that Clive’s errand boy will be camped out on Dr. Luke’s doorstep for singles tailored to each of the other three. I think the only matter of contention is whether Adam will knuckle under and accept being handed a Katy Perry-style electronic dance-pop record co-written by Dr. Luke.
Hey Adam fans -cheer up! check out
http://www.windpowersports.com/music/top-songs.php
Adam has 10 songs (inlcuding duet with Alison) in the TOP 10 I-tunes chart. Oh and Kris has 6. Spotted a Gokey too -holytamoly!
Good for them both.
Kris might be Arkansas (whoops typo!) American Idol but Adam will be PLANET IDOL in the long run.
Both Kris and Adam will be on the Today show next Friday (performing).
Seems to me they are being marketed together. Has this ever happened before? Not enough of an AI fan to know.
Idol should of said it was a blow out. They had no problem embarrasinhg Archie
Perhaps this fiasco will cause AI to rethink it’s voting method in the future and limit the number of calls like they do on Dancing With the Stars.
Do the math. 100 Million votes…38 Million from Arkansas 62 Million from the rest of the US…..Adam didn’t stand a chance. We wasted our time voting for him. One state controlled the outcome.
This is a hollow victory for Kris and leaves American Idol with a weak winner who’s really Arkansas Idol and not the American or World Idol.
A great injustice has occured here and I hope AI treats Adam equally as the “winner”. I hope he gets post show publicity, plenty of songs on the tour, tour publicity, a great album release date and promotion, He’s the charasmatic one, he’s the one people want to see.
Yeah…I guess they were trying to save face for Adam. Hm.
Yeah, they did exactly this with the Davids last year. They were hardly ever separate in the days after the finale.
This seems like a pretty plausible explanation to me – small states always rally around their Idols. Hawaii saved Jasmine Trias after she totally destroyed her song, and we’re only a state of about 1.3 million.
OK, now that I have looked at some of the reports, I can see that maybe 38 million votes originated in Arkansas. But there were also many Arkansas votes in other time zones. IMO it appears that krisallennation.com successfully organized a voting campaign that generated millions of votes. This is from krisallennation.com at 2:44AM 5/20/09 in response to there request that people report their vote totals:
UPDATE: 105 people who have reported their votes voted a staggering 436,650 times last night. That’s an average of 4,158 votes per person. Keep reporting your votes and we’ll keep updating.
Do some people exagerate the number of votes. Sure. But some of the specific comments so that a few people were the source of large numbers of votes:
“Just passing through. Don’t really care but the family voted as follows.
1)Gizmo – 95 or so over the 7 hours
2)iPhone – 960 or so texts over the 4 hours
3)GoPhone text – 1440 texts over the 4 hours (x 20 if the power texting worked so 28,800)
4)MetroPCS phone – 1600 calls over the 4 hours
5)TMobile phone – 300 or so calls over the 4 hours.
6)Home phone on computer modem for 2 hr 45 min – 1200 calls
7)Home phone on DialIdol for 1 hr 15 min – 405 calls (Steady but the manual modem dialer is faster).
So we got in about 6,000 calls over the night. If the power texting worked then we went over 33,000 easily. We had 11 other people texting or calling for us.”
2,278 Total Votes. After voting a solid 7 hours I’m exhausted as well. But it’s all worth it for Kris Allen.
You know what? IF it’s true that Arkansas is responsible for 1/3 of the total votes, then I say, More Power To ‘Em! TPTB designed this ridiculous voting “system” and it’s nobody’s fault but their own.
yes. david cook and archie were together on interviews for days and days after cook won.
fmoroc, it’s a Top 100 list for iTunes. I actually counted 7 for Kris. As you mentioned, Adam has 10 on the list.
That is simply ridiculous. The voting systems definitely need to be revamped. AI got caught now for their insatiable need for high voting #’s. 1 vote per person is all you get in an election, it’s all you should get on something like this. Now they have an Arkansas Idol, not one that is going to go out and take the world by storm. I hope Kris does well, but I’m afraid he’s going to get a hard dose of reality on tour. If the crowd there last night was any indication, it’s going to be the Lambert show.
Like I said last night, go forth and be brilliant Adam. The world awaits.
There was nothing to stop Adam’s home state of California — the largest in the nation, mind you — to get 38,000 residents to send in 1,000 votes.
For some reason folks seem to think this was wrong. But what about folks who TRIED power voting for Adam? That’s okay?
Give credit to the folks who felt strongly enough to vote.
and by the way, AI monitors for any illegal voting. if there had been something wrong with too many votes coming in from one place, believe me, they would have thrown them out. they have done that before. they announce every year that they monitor that. i can assure you, if they had even half a reason to discount votes for Kris, they would have done it.
Check out Kris Allen saying Adam is gonna be a megastar, probably bigger than Kris himself
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1611899/20090521/index.jhtml
IMHO no “probably” about it!
True!
Indeed!
So it wasn’t the Christians or the homophobes that did it but the good folk of Arkansas. AI will never change its voting system. They want the fans bonding with their fav so they buy the album. That wouldn’t work as well if you could only vote once.
I’m surprised Utah and the Mormons couldn’t do the same for Archie last year.
I was reading through the posts at krisallennation that was posted here. How on earth were they able to get votes in from Singapore and West Coast Canada? (and here I was voting on my little landline for 4 hours thinking it made a difference, lol…..silly me)
I agree that they should get rid of the power voting and limit votes like they do on DWTS. I’ve felt this every season. Popularity is overstated by how zealous certain fans are. I can’t blame a state when the rules support this happening. Maybe it will make them take a look at the voting rules but I doubt it. I think texting has grown so much that it’s crazy how many votes people can send.
The proof will come in the pudding on tour and when Kris’s CD is released. 38 million votes does not equal 38 million in record or ticket sales.
The problem I have with this logic is that these people voted mostly on hometown pride than on music talent.
Before tonight I really thought that casual votes mattered and that in the end the contestant who performed the better got those votes and won.
But if a relatively small group of organized fans can cast this number of votes, the performances really doesn’t matter anymore.
I think idol watching and idol voting is cultural: I think the bible belt and southerners just like this sort of “cheesy” show. I’m from CA (tho living in Europe) and outside of my Mom, NO ONE I know would be caught dead watching, let alone voting for a singer on) American Idol.
I can believe the numbers from Arkansas….I can imagine that Adam probably scared the bejesus out of that demographic.
Kris seems like a really really nice guy, but given the season and Adam’s incredible voice and performance talent- he really deserved to be rewarded with being the American Idol.
I think that while Kris’ voice is radio friendly, he really isn’t that unique or special. I hope Arkansas supports their idol by buying his music.
And I call bullshit on this idea that the judges were overly-pimping Adam!!! When did that happen and where was I? When Adam was critiqued in a positive way he deserved every single word!!!! It was Danny who got the undeserved tiongue baths. So yeah…I call bullshit on that!
And yeah…I think a LOT of votes were cast against Adam….that ¨’s bloody human nature.
Last night i was in shock it was the biggest WTF!!!! moment for me. Today i am writing this and my tears is flowing how can America not vote enough for Adam, i am never going to watch that crappy show again and i am sure thousand of people feel the same. I am from Guyana, south America and we look up to America as a great country, but after this i am just thinking what stupidity, Ai is not a singing contest it a voting contest and the best man not always win.
the vote from Arkansas clearly proves that people will vote for someone regardless of how much they sucks, Adam lambert is the best idol ever and to all those Christians that voted for kris just to spite Adam and stop him from winning i say to those folks JESUS MUST BE PROUD OF YOU ALL!!!!. A lot of people is angry today but Adam will prevails and will be a legend.
we Adam fans will have the last laugh,yes we will because god works in mysterious ways.
its not over till its over!!!!!!
Well when Simon begs the viewers to vote for you that’s kind of like pimping.
I wonder if Adam was already showing weakenss in the vote and they were afraid he wouldn’t make the finals. Because I’m thinking this wasn’t the first week that Arkansas voted en masse for Kris. And Dialidol didn’t pick up a blow out although they nailed the winner.
I wonder if the whole thing was not a big conspiracy as idolstyleblessed stated before. I’m not sure TPTB wanted Adam to win.
Apparently Adam was just on Fox and Friends …….is it true that Adam said Queen is interested in him?????
Well it wouldn’t be an Idol seaon without a conspiracy. Although I don’t think Kara was in on it because her coronation song wasn’t suited to either guy.
I can say I am disappointed. I wanted Adam to win for many reason but I do not like the fact that Kris is being undermined. He won and I am sure Adam would want his fans to embrace Kris as the winner. I am sort of annoyed that people say how nice Kris is (which he most certainly is) and no one recognizes that Adam is just as nice and kind. You know this is just a reality show contest. The real test and crowning of the winner will be how successful each is after the show. Adam fans if you want to really show the world that Adam is your American Idol then buy his album when it comes out and lets make him the most successful finalist in AI history. Success is the best revenge. Congrats to Kris and my admiration and buying power to Adam.
Kris is not just Arkansas’s Idol! He’s America’s Idol! Yeah 38 million came from Arkansas but i would say a couple million at least went to Adam and still for Kris to beat out Adam he still needs at least another 20 million but maybe even around another 30 million (some say he won by a lot).
I love both Adam and Kris but I’m just tried of hearing he’s only Arkansas’s Idol…. Both Adam and Kris are American Idols!!!!!!!! One just got a title and a throphy
I will continue to watch AI because I like music performance, but I certainly will never cast another vote. Eventually, maybe even next year, I think there will be more analysis throughout the season on fanbase organization than any other factor that creates a win because of what happened in AR. I mean, I had no idea the lengths people would go to for their idol (any idol, not just the final two). I feel so naive. Lesson learned.
Fuckin A right! Kris knows deep down Adam deserved the win.
Simon didn’t beg voters to vote for Adam. What he said was don ¨’t assume Adam is safe and vote. Not the same thing.
So true!
Isn’t Arkansas a part of America? What’s wrong about them supporting their kid? 38 million votes come from Arkansas, how many for Kris and how many for Adam? I couldn’t find anywhere that said 38 million votes were for Kris alone.
clearone – Is there any link or text to that story? I thought last night that Brian May should have whipped out the checkbook and bought out Adam’s contract right then and there and put him on tour. He was great with them.
Exactly. If you’re not a mindless borg you wouldn’t listen to him anyhow. He was just affirming to fans, to not be complacent.
People vote for lots of reasons. And I find in the end, if the winner doesn’t deserve the win, the marketplace corrects the mistake.
Just like back in S5, I was horrified that Taylor and Kat ended in the finals over Daughtry and Elliott. And guess, what, Things have worked out in the end. But I think Kris is not an undeserved winner. Just very low key. He might surprise people with how well he does.
“I wonder if Adam was already showing weakenss in the vote and they were afraid he wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t make the finals. Because Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m thinking this wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the first week that Arkansas voted en masse for Kris. And Dialidol didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t pick up a blow out although they nailed the winner.”
exactly
like how DI would almost always show him near the bottom but he wouldnt be in the bottom 3. I’ve been thinking all along that he has been getting a LOT of text votes.
I still find it funny they didnt note the % won between the 2. They had NO problem pointing that out several times last year during the finale.
How many of those 38 million votes would realistically have gone to Adam?
If there was 1 million votes in all these I would be shocked.
It’s not a coincidence that Kris homestate that represents 1/100 of the population casted more than 1/3 of the votes.
Wow Arkansas. I don’t know much about the state but they really must have been in need of an Idol. Something to rally around. Congratulations to you all. Kris is a deserving winner. His duet with Keith Urban last night made him look like a star. We have three stars from this season really as one day Allison will be taking the world by storm as well.
KrisFan, I love both finalists and Kris won fair and square within the rules as set out by AI. However, if this Arkansas vote number is accurate, I’m not sure those powervoters from his home state are doing him any favours with such a skewed proportion of his votes coming from a single region. I genuinely hope he does well and gets a great reception in all cities on the tour.
Personally, I think the producers should disallow powervoting by anyone, especially texting linked to a single provider, but of course, that will never happen since AI is ruled by the mighty dollar and the AT&T sponsorship monopoly makes them a lot of money.
Do we know this for sure? I don’t think Idol would release the numbers like that. Seems a little fishy to me.
I’ll tell you what it is that you smell. It’s called ILLEGAL VOTING. I don’t care what ANYONE says…there is something fishy going on here…and all I can say is shame on those that were involved.
Do you know how easy it is (was) for ‘someone’ to put a piece of software on a server…say..like at a college..where there are lots of computers…and just set it to continuously dial those numbers for 4 hours. Let me tell you…it’s an easy task to do. PLUS…do you know how many texts can be sent in 4 hours…especially when you are probably using two cell phones apiece? Seriously people….is this really AMERICA’S IDOL? No….it’s actually ARKANSAS IDOL.
The final proof will be in watching Adam and Kris…and seeing WHO will actually go the furthest in their careers. Let’s see…Adam has already been offered lead singer with Queen. Do you really think Fergie, Kiss, and Queen would have performed on American Idol last night for KRIS? No way…they all KNOW Adam is going to be a legend and they wanted a part of it.
Mark my words….you haven’t seen the end of this. American Idol needs to change their voting system to prevent this from happening again. I believe the judges should have the FINAL vote. Yes…America can still vote but it’s obvious that the majority of people don’t have musical intelligence…so the people that do (the judges) should make the final vote. Just my opinion…but I know most people will agree with me.
JudyOhio
May 21st, 2009 at 8:16 am
I was reading through the posts at krisallennation that was posted here. How on earth were they able to get votes in from Singapore and West Coast Canada? (and here I was voting on my little landline for 4 hours thinking it made a difference, lolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦..silly me)
Are you really trying to pretend that you aren’t aware that Adam has more international fans voting than any other idol, indeed they were boasting of the fact? Here are some links to their instructing people how to powervote. Look at the comments, they are from people all over the world.
http://adam-lambert.org/power-voting-step-2/
http://adam-lambert.org/vote/
I particularly like this comment instructing Adam fans how to vote for 7 hours instead of the allotted 4 hours for their time zone.:
2. The countdown timer will have a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹TIME SINCE. When time gets to 4 hours, switch to a West Coast area code (ie. 951) Then you have three more hours to vote. HERE: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’>
I’ve got lots more information if you want me to show it to you. Kris’s international vote pales in comparison to Adam’s, so are you going to be sarcastic about Adam now? Here’s a thought for you to chew on, maybe Danny would have been in the finale but for Adam’s international votes.
Ha, good for you, Arkansas. 38M votes for your American Idol hero Kris.
But now look at the backlash he will get. From here on out, he will be looked at as the one that took the title away from the most deserving contestant in Idol history, NOT the talented artist he is and should have been. He is now handicapped before his career even takes off. Poor guy.
His state basically fucked him over.
Kris will have success in the UNITED STATES, but worldwide? Not a chance.
Adam, on the other hand, is going to be huge WORLDWIDE. It is inevitable.
Thanks for the amazing journey, Adam! Break on through to the other side!
You are exactly right Norwegiano. Kris is totally forgettable…Adam on the other hand is an icon already. He is going to be a legend. Why do you think Fergie, Queen, and Kiss performed last night? It certainly wasn’t because Kris was in the finals. If Adam wasn’t the great performer he is…none of those groups would have showed an interest in performing. That is a fact..guaranteed.
The final proof is always how the Idols do once the confetti has drifted to the floor. But I’m pretty sure all those acts signed up to be on last night because it meant they were going before TV’s largest audience.
As someone who learned to read music before she learned to read the alphabet, I like to think my musical intelligence level is fairly high. And I love Kris. In his quiet way, he is a prodigiously talented man. I wanted Adam to win because this show has never seen anything like him, but there’s been a goofy grin on my face ever since they announced Kris’ name. The two of them said they’re both winners, and I agree with them.
Me too. I’ve not read all the posts, but my sense is that this sounds more than a little unlikely. But, who knows, and whatever.
I have a feeling that Kris won by a HUGE margin of votes and that is why they didnt mention how many. It would sound ridiculous and people would be asking the obvious question. How is that possible that Kris got THAT many more votes than Adam?
Its about the numbers and the numbers are crazy and they arent realistic or even a good barometer of who got more votes. Thats why Ryan didnt make a big deal out of mentioning it like he usually does.
It over and dont look to Idol to change its voting rules. Why should they? Its a win win money wise for all concerned.
In the clear light of day, everyone is a winner.
Don’t kid yourself….Idol has lost a TON of money by Adam not winning the crown. They know where their bread and butter is…and Simon Fuller is a very intelligent man. I believe changes in the voting is down the road.
For all that who does not believe in the figures,
I bet you all haven’t vote through AT&T texting…
This is the official number that’s on the Arkansas Fox Local News and this is real!!
The theory to do this is simple.
1)Prepare a phone with AT&T service (which is the main provider in Arkansas)
2)Set up a text group of 20 numbers (and the numbers are all the same –5702]
3)compose a text message (which is ” VOTE”)
4)hit the button to send the text to the text group
5)Re-text the whole 4 hours (yes,texting does not have busy signal!!)
By experience for 4 hours you can text in about 10000 votes,
if you have 2 cell phones, make it up to 20000 votes, I even heard that some people used 4 cell phones for texting…
Extra knowledge*
IF you want to vote for 7 hours (east and west time), just go and get a cheap GO PHONE and apply for a EAST/WEST coast number, and then you can vote for 7 hours!
Now, you can do the math, right?
Arkansas,good for you to bring your hometown glory and your Arkansas Idol. Oops! I have heard that some voters there had never watched AI but voted because they are told to vote for hometown boy.
For me, Adam hasn’t lost the title but we Adam fans lost the vote war to you Arkansas, sadly.
I hope Kris all the best and I will be buying all Adam’s music.
I’m not pretending ANYTHING. Until that person posted about the Kris site, I did NOT know and was NOT aware, tyvm. Thanks for informing me of an Adam site that instructs on these OTT methods also. I posted on another thread in here about my being naive about this power voting stuff, so don’t jump on me!
I wasn’t being sarcastic! I don’t care which contestant they are doing it for. It’s ugly! The title of this thread speaks to AR, an example was given regarding AR, and I simply responded to that. Now, you have placed info and a site, and I’ve responded to that.
The shitty organized OTT power voting and international voting is just WRONG imo. I don’t give a rat’s a$$ who is doing it, don’t like it.
Lol, pretending? Maybe they really didn’t know, nice making assumptions though.
International votes – most likely – don’t count for anything. Trust me, I have friends in Canada and the UK who were attempting to use websites like Gizmo, and they got maybe four or five votes through. Those programs don’t work very well at all. So you can stop with that argument right now.
And Danny didn’t make the finale because A) Arkansas was voting for Kris, he was probably ahead of Danny a lot of weeks, B) A lot of Adam fans were splitting votes because they wanted Danny out of the competition, C) He was the least talented of the three.
As for Arkansas voting 38 million times, I couldn’t care less. We’ll see what happens with record sales. As a die hard Adam fan, I can say that I’m honestly happy for Kris because I liked him as well. Adam’s not upset, so why should I be?
If one has to blame someone, it’s not Kris’ fans that should be blamed. It’s Adam’s fans, they were the ones who couldn’t get him to the finish line. They complain about the utter unfairness of whatever but the simple thing is that they failed — whether from complacency or arrogance or fatalism, they didn’t vote enough. Whether or not the Arkansas vote was true, Kris’ fans had the drive to vote for their guy. Adam’s fans, for whatever reason, didn’t, and now cry foul over something that they could have prevented.
I disagree. If there is enough of an outcry about this, I think they will make changes. This is beyond fucking ridiculous. 38 million votes do not translate into 38 million album sales and the AI franchise does not need another Taylor Hicks who is the epitome of mediocrity in the real world.
The difference between the power voting fans and power voting Arkansans is that the fans are fans of the person. They actually watch the show and support the contestant because they like the voice, the style of music, the package. OTOH, while some of the Arkansans may like Kris, the majority are voting based on hometown pride, as a poster upthread said. Not because Kris is the best singer or because they like his music the best, but because he’s … woo hoo … from Arkansas. The producers are behind the times, the tween vote is not the story. This is the story.
Bottom line: basically Arkansas told America who their next American Idol would be. The rest of us? Our votes didn’t count.
I think that 38 million number may be misleading – it may be 38 million ATTEMPTED CALLS, most of which would get a busy signal. I bet that wasn’t 38 million votes. That just doesn’t seem plausible.
On another front, I saw an interesting conspiracy theory that questioned whether Adam was actually an AI-paid “plant” to increase ratings, and knew all along that he wouldn’t win. Aren’t conspiracy theories fun? :smile_wp:
Like you, I enjoy both of these guys. Kris IS a hugely talented person, no doubt of it. But I can’t help but feel bad for him. His state’s votes apparently pushed him into the winners column. 38M? Come on…
The point is, this is now going to hang over Kris and handicap any future success in the international scene. Statistically speaking, he probably was NOT the choice of mainstream America, and certainly not the choice of the international vote. AI’s voting system is brokenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ as shown over and over again this year.
I personally think it would have been better for Kris to come in second. Think about it…there is no way Kris does better than Adam in record sales totals, in a global sense. He is going to look a little foolish being the winner and making less money than his former roommate.
Adam will come out of this the real winner, as far as money goes, and isn’t that what all of this is about? I mean, really? Who will get the top endorsements, product placement tie-ins, larger tours, etc. He is a more universal artist. Kris has his niche, and does the singer/songwriter thing very well. But Adam can’t be contained with one genre, so career longevity falls squarely in Adam’s corner as well.
So I maintain that by winning, Kris has crippled himself with the burden of having to prove he is a bigger star than Adam. Good luck.
Oh, and potential movie deals for Adam as well. Oh yeah, you know it’s coming.
It wasn’t just Arkansas voting for Kris Allen. I’m from Connecticut and I voted 4 hours straight — getting 2 hours of busy signals with one or two connecting no matter the phone line I tried. (I never even voted for David Cook, a personal favorite, but I have supported him with my pocketbook post Idol). With all of Arkansas on Kris’ side and the support of people like myself in other states, it may have very well been a sizeable margin between Kris and Adam and TPTB didn’t want to disclose the vote difference. I rallied for the kid and I swear I will never let myself become invested like that again. It’s pure madness.
I felt like there were some subliminal messages being sent out to the viewer, escpecially during the Ford Commercials. The commerical shown during Big Band week, had Kris up front in the last shot, finishing first and then he was the only one shown up close and in color. Also the whole finish line reference was used during the show. Scripted — I’d say yes. At that point, I said to my daughter, “I think Kris’ is going to win.” But of course, I wasn’t sure if this meant anything at all, but it was interesting to note. The Flat Idol commerical had Kris placed center in a “light ray”. (not quite sure how to describe it. lol) I’m sure there’s been subtle messages in all the commericals, depeding on how the “voting race” is going.
Another thing that caught my eye was Kris’ placement in the American Idol tour photo. He was positioned exactly were David Cook was positioned. I pointed that out to my daughter and she just looked at me like, “yeah right, mom.” There were other things I noticed. Top three — The spotlights were not aimed on Danny Gokey at all. Only Kris and Adam were well lit and Kris had what shoould have been Danny’s spotlight aimed at him — not completely, but enough to wonder.
The minute I saw Danny’s home package, I was underwhelmed and wondered why it was so lame. (I’m thinking they might have two packages set to go — using one or the other based on vote placement.) Of course, I wasn’t certain what that meant, if it meant anything at all. Then Kris’ homecoming package blew me away and again I said to my daughter, “I think Kris is in the top 2.” Lo and behold.
So what were the votes really like througout this competition? Was Simon pushing Kris to step up his game to win with all the negative critiquing? They really don’t have a male singer who very well might be able to crossover to country, pop, hac, ac — pretty much every format. And was it R&B that gave Heartless a few spins? Not familiar with that format. I noted Rock even gave Kris a spin or two with Come Together, which I thought was wrongly put down by the judges. Kris certainly wasn’t going to be hard rock, but he pulled it off in his own way. It was rock week, not HARD rock week.
I had a hhmmm moment when I watched Adam’s American Idol Extra interview, talking about what’s next. Adam was not certain himself what type of music he was going to put out, though he wanted to collaborate and work with producers. TPTB is looking for someone that can put out an album like right now. Randy brought up the whole Kris is current, contemporary thing, knows who is as an artist during interviews.
For some reason, I don’t want Simon Cowell to get his clutches in Adam. I just feel he’s going to make it into a Dog and Pony Show. I don’t know… just a bad feeling. We don’t need another member of Il Divo. Adam could do it. The man’s vocal versatility is amazing. The Youtube Video of Brigadoon was perfection. My first thought while listening was — the boy’s an Irish tenor. Just lovely. His version of the song What’s Up? by 4 non-blondes is an all time favorite. I think Adam is strong enough and smart enough, savvy, to work things out that are in his best interest. Just a bit of trepidation on my part …
I think Adam is a magnificent singer — I finally FELT Adam as a rocker during his duet with Queen and Kris. The joy and love those two guys (adam and kris) gave off was electrifying. I was like, Oh, wow! This is just so sweet and so epic. By that time, the winner announcement seemed almost moot. Freddy Mercury = Adam Lambert. Now they’ve got to work out a way to market that, sell that. 80’s rock today — I’m not certain it’s an easy sell. But one can only hope.
Putting aside all the Bull, the media crapfest, the liberal vs conservative crapola — the gay bashing, the christian bashing, it came down to two guys who genuinely love and care about each other. I’m taking that with me, holding that in my heart, out of all of this. I admire that love, I admire those kids. We should look to them. JMHO
To life.
The first time I read about the ways to power-vote it was in an Adam forum, and I’m a Kris fan. I’m still not sure how 38m from one state is even possible, but I have no doubt that plenty of Adam fans (in the US and abroad) were doing the same thing. Clearly it wasn’t enough.
I don’t think Kris sees himself as being a megastar. He justs wants to make music and now he has the platform for doing it. He won’t be crying himself to sleep at night if Adam outsells him. Both guys were incredibly deserving of the title, and so different I’m not sure it’s fair to compare them. But turning the result into a political or religious argument is pathetic, and an insult to both Kris and Adam.
Someone posted about the phone lines being tight or inaccessible and thats why Ruben beat Clay. If I remember right, a lot of Clays voters dialed the wrong phone number. A business reported the next day that they were deluged with phone calls on their message service that apparently were meant for Clay.
Simon is such a douchebag. He didnt stand for Kris and did the same when Taylor won. He just cant stand it when the fans don’t follow his plan. Someone posted that if AR power voted Kris in it was unfair. Well, it was unfair all season to Kris and all the others except Adam and Gokey. They may as well only have had 2 contestants in the whole show. The others could barely get a compliment when they did a good job, and if they sang well, then Simon nitpicked their personality or clothes.
Ryan and all the idols will be on Larry King tomorrow night on CNN at 9pm ET.
Definitely! Last year, I would have to say the same thing happened with DA. Cook fans and other idol fans were stirred by Simon’s comments. DA’s fans were less stirred since they thought he did so well in the finale that he was going to win. I know this is true because I talked to several people afterwards who I didn’t even know were DA fans, and they said they were perplexed about him not winning. When I asked them if they voted, they said no– but that they were sure he was going to win. It is the fans who have to make it happen.
I do believe though, that even though it is painful not to have your guy win, second place is not a bad place to be. In the long term, it is the fans who will help make or break their career, and winning is no guarantee of long term success.
I feel bad for Kris too, because it is going to be tough to follow Adam on tour and to keep up with him. It is one thing to be humble and say Adam should have won and that he is fine with Adam taking the spotlight sometimes, but it is another thing to deal with it.
I just think that it is so weird that in a year that will most likely play out like Clay and Ruben that the best singer this year really is gay (just stole this from another board, yes this is making me go elsewhere, I am sooo curious)
Good for Kris but boo hoo for Adam that he lost in large part to religious crazies like Gokey’s minister – oh well, I expected this. Once again, my favs, since Kelly, have never ever won but have actually gone on to do better than the winner. I know that Adam will do well in spite of not winning AND because his first cd wont be a really bad song
“””If one has to blame someone, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ fans that should be blamed. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fans, they were the ones who couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get him to the finish line. “””
Adams fans maybe have a life besides Idol and need to go to bed on time and have work to do? It is hard to fight against political or religious beliefs anyways – we knew and know he will do good even if he would have come in 13th
Anyhoo, it was sweet watching Kris looking for Adam over everyone and wonderful how they became so close, Kris will be needing Adam for these upcoming interviews, Adam is the eloquent one, Kris bashful, so Adam will most likely help Kris thru these. Oh it was sooooo awesome to see the two that are probably going to really really go somewhere, hugging each other tight last night, go Adam and Allison!
I may be alone in this but I am fine with Kris’s fans power voting their favourite to victory. The producers have chosen not to intervene to prevent power voting, i.e. one call per household, one call per 5 minute cycle. The fans did nothing wrong. There was nothing prevening Adam’s fans from voting in the same way, just like there was nothing preventing Archuleta’s tween/teen fans from staying up the full 4 hours last year to vote. I also doubt that this is the first time that power voting has happened in an Idol finale. I don’t think that any previous winner’s victory has been seen as tainted as a result of it. I think that where the Producers did drop the ball is in failing to announce the extent of Kris’s victory. I think the fact that Cook won by 12 million last year really did add to his legitimacy. Many of the newspaper articles reporting on his victory still start with saying that he had a “landslide” victory. Kris deserves the same. Whatever the margin of victory, I think that it should be announced publicly. The set the precedent with Cook and Kris deserves the same.
Let me tell you that, reading these reports about the voting, I feel like a fool for trying to dial in for 4 hours for Adam–one person, one phone.
And Fox wonders why their ratings are down? Vote fraud is part of it. This is disgusting.
Going from a less than one percent margin one week to a blowout the following week should have been a big clue that something was wrong Tuesday night.
Wow, Evanjane, you said it all and so articulately. There was a feeling in the air … added to your perceptions: the sudden focus on Kris’ parents (but not the wife – don’t want to get the fans too hung up on the fact that he’s happily married; just try to google her – not much there, and she’s so darling and a homecoming queen … seems like they purposely kept her to the side).
For as wonderful as Kris is, even he knows he’s no Adam. There’s a silly article in the LA Times about how now Idol has been given back it’s heart: the unpolished, anyone can make it here with work, underdog idol. In doing so, they’ve lost the SOUL of the competition: may the best vocalist win and the star be crowned. Every one of these contestants has been trying to make it in the industry, in their own way, and to hold Adam’s awesomeness against him because he is too perfect is a slap in the face for everyone who’s out there working their butts off to learn their craft. (For goodness sake, even Susan Boyles has been singing her whole life! And for everyone who’s gaga over her, guess what? Adam can outsing her, too, just listen to any of his musical theatre repetoire!)
Lesson: mediocrity = Am. Idol
Good, then he’s a realist!
If 38 million votes came from Arkansas, which is in the central time zone, then Dial Idol would have shown that:
during the first EDT voting hour, Adam was ahead
during the second EDT (and first CDT) voting hour, Kris shot ahead
during the last two WDT voting hours (after CDT voting was over), Adam started catching up
But I didn’t see any trends like that on DI at all. The whole night it was just Kris is slightly ahead of Adam and that’s it.
Suzanne, the problem is, DialIdol doesn’t measure text votes at all, which is what most of these problem votes came from, apparently.
Those times when Kris was in the bottom 3 on DialIdol, everyone always said Kris would be ok because he had the text votes. Little did we realize how many text votes he was getting.
Also, EDT and CDT watch Idol at the exact same time. Here in CDT, it starts at 7 pm and our voting time is the same as EDT’s.
First of all, I have loved many of the comments on this board all season long… I have gotten so much enjoyment once again from this site, MJ, and I wanted to say thanks again.
I totally enjoyed the show last night. I thought Idol really outdone themselves this year. The various artists were great!
Going into the final, I was pretty bummed because I thought my favorite Adam was in trouble of winning. I was troubled by the various shows….O’Reilly….totally stupid videos (ie. Danny and Sarver exchange on the *godly* way to love)….and articles about the *gay* guy and the *the believer* (thanks rolex preacher man). I was disheartened that this issue may have a great influence on the vote. It would be naive of me to think some votes were not influenced by this but when I watched the show, I was moved by the example set by Kris and Adam.
Here are two very different artists, with two very different lifestyles, that have found a way to love one another in spite of those differences. Their respect for one another was so evident. Adam said that they talked a lot over the season and learned so such from one another musically and personally. They led by example last night to not be divided….to appreciate one another’s differences and to revel in a brother’s success. Did you see the JOY on Kris’s face for Adam when they were singing with Queen??? He knew Adam was in Heaven…that was genuine caring.
As far as I am concerned, Adam and Kris have put the issue of *differences* on much higher ground now…..and perhaps this is a pollyanna thought…. but I feel we are all better for this. I know this is just a singing contest….I get that…..but it was much more for me.
I have so enjoyed this season….sorry to see it end….Pix
Based upon pure statistics, what are the odds of 40% of all votes being generated by less than 1% of the population? How about the other 99% of the country voting 50% less than they did last year?
A year ago, I cast over 500 votes for David Cook. Busy signals only lasted an hour or so. This year, solid busy signals for Adam the entire 4 hours as was able to log only 40 votes despite 1000 attenpts.
I am putting forth that something illegal was being done here.
People the point is, not whether Ark actually voted that much, but did the rest of the country vote that little? If Ark had 40% of all votes, the rest of the whole country voted half as much as prior years.
It makes no sense.
yes sure, because every AI contestant should have a presidential-style campaign organization to win this thing.
No matter how Kris fans try to turn this out, hometown pride should not be the prime reason why someone wins the competition. This is another big blow to the AI voting system.
60 million of votes is not little… This is more than the total number of votes for every week except top 3 and 4 and more than a number of other finales.
For what we know, maybee Utah voted 20 million times for Archie last year and Kansas casted 40 million votes.
Again this is not a news we invented, it is reported by Fox Arkansas and by the governor website…
mitchellvii, I could not agree more. After a season where I got, at most, one or two busy signals were week, suddenly, in the finale, I was dialling more than an hour at a time without a single vote going through for Adam.
I am happy for Kris. He seems like a nice guy. But I am disgusted by the voting and the whole system.
Suzanne,
Perhaps you’re new to Idol and the tools used, but Dial Idol is a horrible gauge of things beyond the first 15 minutes or so. Beyond that, it is her hard for any time zone to “catch up”. You see, the big thing about Dial Idol is that it measures bust signals. This is nice and all, but not exactly helpful when voting times in the east are still open when voting begins in the west. Then 3 hours straight it is only the west coast and mtn zone voting – you will indeed see less busy signals – as I did. Aside from that fact, if you were following it the entire evening, you are aware kris was ahead by a larger margin and Adam shot to under 1 percent at one point. As I said, it us hard to overcome the busy signal stigma of the first 15 minutes, because beyond that time frame, a lot of casual voters are done voting, but dial idol’s formula strongly relies on that data for its formula and does not like to stray from it. Not to mention it is completely useless for the text vote as well. It is a useless site, and frankly, I am just upset at the fact that one state can overturn an entire competition. Completely and utterly ridiculous.
Oh well, at least I know Adam’s gonna be a bigger and star because of this. Screw AI. I’m boycotting it until their voting system changes.
Kris fans had the same problem. ALL the lines were insanely busy until right at the end of the voting block.
If TPTB were going to manipulate this thing, I don’t think for one second they would do it in favor of Kris. I 100% believe they wanted an Adam win.
So there was an official AI sponsor, AT&T, who was providing free use of 100s of GoPhones & showing how to power vote, resulting in people logging as many as 20,000 – 80,000 votes each. They worked with other corporate sponsors who provided free food, etc in an organized effort with thousands of people, that resulted in 40% of the votes being cast from one small state.
So one state of less than 3 million people has been allowed to decide the winner for the other 49 states after a corporate-sponsored campaign.
And the Arkansas government is proud of it.
I can’t see how Kris would be proud of it. Shreds his credibility. And AI’s credibility.
ETA: 38 million is easily reached, considering there were many organized sponsored & unsponsored voting parties – one alone in Conway had over 4000 people in a football stadium (w/ free food & GoPhones). If they voted an average of 5000 times each (and some people were reporting over 20,000), that’s 20 million text votes at one viewing party alone. Heck, if they’d only done half that, then that one voting party would have been more than 1/4 of the 38 million total.
I’m from Arkansas and a friend of Kris’, I was the one that first posted this about Fox reporting the Arkansas votes. Honestly, I’m not sure I even believe it. That fox station is easily the worst news station in LR, and possible the country. They may have gotten some random AT&T technician that exaggerated the number and they ran with it.
Either way, Kris had fans voting all over the country, so it wasn’t just Arkansas voting for him, and he has 2 of the top 10 downloads on iTunes despite the fact bandzilla ruined them in the studio version.
I don’t think it’s fair to Kris to buy in to the judges hype and assume Adam should have won. Sure he has a great voice and is a good performer, but I liked Kris’ song with Keith Urban last night a lot better than the Adam/KISS song. Adam is happy for Kris and not upset, why should his fans be?
Also, those that think this is just a singing competition are delusional. If it was just based on singing, they wouldn’t let you play instruments(I know they didn’t use to, but they do now), they wouldn’t let you rearrange songs, they wouldn’t let you have big costumes and lights, and they wouldn’t let you pick the songs. All of that is a factor and is not based on singing at all, and Kris and Adam both benefited greatly from the artistic side of the show. If you line all those people up and have them sing the same song without anything else, I’m not sure Adam even gets top 3. Kris wouldn’t either, but my point is that this is not just a singing competition and Kris rearranging songs and playing guitar is the same as Adam’s experience in the costumes and lighting and choosing different versions of songs. They are both artists, just different ones.
Having said that, this is my first season to watch american idol and when I heard you can vote as many times as you want, the whole idea of america picking the winner lost a lot of credibility and it was clear the winner would be chosen by whose fans powervoted more. I absolutely agree it should be limited to one vote per person.
I couldn’t get one vote for Kris until the last 12 minutes, which does confirm that the lines were jammed. I believe that Kris won it by a landslide, especially since nothing was mentioned about the percentages, like Ryan mentioned last year for the Davids.
And why is thus Arkansas dude blabbering on and on about it anyways?
Is he that clueless?
Bwahahahahhaha…oh brother, where at thou? :lol_tb:
Oh well, maybe our dear speaker Robbie Wills will keep talking so that the media picks this up and runs with it, purely for entertainment purposes,LOL :thumbup_tb:
Season’s over and I’m bored again…*sigh* I love this show :mrgreen_wp:
“AT&T is denying that 38 million votes came in from Arkansas. They are not sure where that number originated from.”
Just read this…I’m thinking this is all much ado about nothing.
Where did this come from? If you had a source MJ might be able to update this blog with it and dismiss the myth that Kris only won because of Arkansas.
Besides, it wasn’t just Arkansas that bought enough of his iTunes songs to send 2 into the top downloads.
AT&T , Robbie Wills is on the line for you……………
oops sorry….I clicked on the link at the top to the Fox 16 affiliate…that’s what it says in their story.
Also, I live in Arkansas and have not heard anything like that here, but I’m in the NW corner of the state, not central Arkansas where the Fox 16 affiliate airs. I did go to the state’s official web-site and the only thing there on Kris Allen is a link to a story about his homecoming, so it doesn’t seem to me that the governor is making any big issue out of the idol thing (which is something another person on here was saying). Our local Fox affiliate here just says 100 million votes total, nothing about the 38 million from Arkansas and they are connected to the Little Rock affiliate.
One last thought on the subject because this thread is making me crazy. Let’s say we set aside the Arkansas votes for a moment. 38 million gone. Fair to do this? Of course not, but that sounds like what people are saying. So then we have in front of us 62 million votes to split between Kris and Adam. Do you think Adam got say 50% of those votes? Possibly. His fans would so more, I’m certain. So if we take away Kris’ votes in Arkansas, isn’t it only fair to take away Adam’s California votes or whatever region voted the most for him?
What total does that leave us with at this point? 62 million minus 5, 10, 20 million or higher? We’re getting down to the bones here. What did California give to Adam by way of votes? Were they voting hard?
Do we really want to go there? Do you really want to put it out there statistically in black and white that it was a blowout as Billy Bush tweeted and Adam was not the beneficiary of said blowout?
I think TPTB were being kind. Who benefits? Certainly not Adam, if it went the way I think it did. Again with all due respect — JMHO
Yeah, that 38 million vote things seems way too high. Even texting is a problem when there are that many votes.
“””Besides, it wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t just Arkansas that bought enough of his iTunes songs to send 2 into the top downloads.”””
It wasn’t? If this story happens to be true then that could happen also
Well, now the station that reported that number is reporting that AT&T denies that number, so I agree this is probably much ado about nothing.
Either way, Kris’ popularity didn’t really explode in Arkansas until he made top 3 and made the hometown visit…..so he still made it that far with fans across the country and not just Arkansas, so why couldn’t he have won with those same fans?
I think that they have a serious problem with viewer loss because of this. How many other votes fell like fools for spending 4 hours playing by the rules only to be powered out by 1 girl with 3 go phones sending 48,000 votes for Kris?
The Clay v. Ruben mess was close and, although a lot of people were crushed they couldn’t get their votes thru, it was a telephone capacity problem. This is different. AI did nothing to enforce their own voting rules, and they actually encouraged power texting.
Ai’s success is based, in part on presenting an entertaining show, but it also requires viewers to have some reasonable belief that the most popular contestant will win. I, for one, have now lost that trust. So all AI can be for me, is a contrived reality TV show. I’ll watch something else next year.
It appears to be impossible that 40% of the vote came from Arkansas. That and additional votes came for over 1,000 West Coast area code Go phones that were distributed in Conway, and many Arkansas voters using Gizmo and Skpe to shift to other area codes. My guess is that over 45% of the vote would have to have originated in Arkansas, if 40% went thru their area codes.
This is not equivalent to anything that ever happened in Idol voting before.
Since most outside measures put the race at too close to call (but would have miss the Arkansas power vote), that puts the vote something like this:
Arkansas originated vote = 38,000,000 with Kris taking 98.5%
Other votes = 60,000,000 with Adam taking 60% (I’m being generous to make a point)
The totals would be:
Kris 61.43 million
Adam 36.57 million
If Adam and Kris were 1 million votes apart last week, then Adam’s vote for the Top 3 was around 30 million. This means that he didn’t get a significant increase in votes this week — with 4 hours to vote.
It just doesn’t add up for me. Either there were not 38 million votes from Arkansas OR some votes were lost.
Finally, does it really make sense that there was less voting this year vs. last year in everywhere except Arkansas?
Pride from the government (not governor) of Arkansas of AT&T confirmation of 38 million Arkansas votes (their Speaker of the House).
ETA: thanks for the analysis TKat Obviously TPTB is trying to keep this scandal quiet while bragging about the number of votes. Will the media pick it up? Can’t imagine anything Fox-related would be able to, if anything, they’d help cover it up.
Evanjane… I don’t care that he won, that’s not the point I think anyone here is trying to make. The point everyone IS making is that the FACT that one state can push an idol to win is ridiculous and horrible.
Only one vote should count. Period.
That is all I have to say about that.
No more power texting, no more skyping, no more bullshit.
Just. One. Vote.
That’s ONLY fair, because IT IS A SINGING COMPETITION, even though some of you think it isn’t (not you, but ohters in here have said it). It is about the best performer, period. And that is and has consistently been Adam. I loved Kris’ “Heartless”, but he has only had a handful of performances on that stage, whereas I can remember ALL of Adam’s. That is what the competition is about. Now I remember why I stopped investing so much time in this show… because it is a rip and a disappointment to invest myself in a competitor the way I have with Adam. I won’t ever do it again, because I’m just completely upset about the outcome of this.
Kris is a nice guy, but he wasn’t the best, and even he knew that at the beginning of the competition.
Sorry, that’s just how I feel, I feel like my guy was robbed.
Actually, yes, because we had a hometown guy, so voting here would naturally be up. We got up for David Cook last year since he was from Tulsa and living in K.C. which are both really close to here. If you don’t live here, you don’t get the close knit thing that Arkansans share. Arkansas gets put down in the media a lot as being backwards and full of unintelligent hillbillies and it’s just not the case. When someone like Kris shows up in the national spotlight and shows the type of people that live here are nice, and don’t walk around barefoot all the time like someone out of Li’l Abner, then we get pretty hyped up and want to show our support.
While I totally agree with you that it should be 1 vote per person and that no one group should be able to determine the outcome, I think we need to wait on saying that it is FACT that Arkansas did this. At this time, we have conflicting reports and no confirmation of the facts. Just my opinion.
As an Okie who lives in rural Illinois (and grew up in the OC), I hear ya Queen! I think that “close knit thing” you mentioned is what’s really at play. It’s also why we get the much-talked-about phenomenon of how “people in LA don’t vote.” There is a greater sense of community in Flyoverland than you see on the coast, and when one of our kids hits the big time, we get really excited.
I remember hearing a month or so ago that Kris’ town was gathering to watch and vote together already, and I thought then that he might end up going pretty far in the competition. Never underestimate the loyalty of a Southerner! :wink_wp:
You guys actually BELIEVE the Arkansas story and Billy Bush’s tweet?
First of all, since when is AT&T at liberty to give out vote totals? Particularly by state? The only time we learn vote totals is on results show nights IF the producers choose to have them announced. Second of all, if the state of Arkansas was actually able to get in over 1/3 of the all the votes Tuesday night, then something smells like pig manure. People all over the country were having issues with busy signals. Third, that means Kris didn’t do particularly well in each of the other 49 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
RE: The number of votes that separated them. Why would anyone at the “top” give Billy Bush, of all people, that news? Dial Idol had them neck and neck. All polls had Adam winning by a large margin. No way did he lose in a landside. Again, if the producers had wanted us to know the number of votes that separated the two, they would have made sure Ryan announced it. I don’t think Billy Bush is lying. He was fed a piece of information from some flunky at AI who was ordered to do so by the producers. It’s called damage control. Kris is the American Idol. Now, it’s the AI machine’s job to make sure he is known as THE WINNER and not “what’s his name who narrowly beat out ADAM LAMBERT.” So while I don’t think BB was lying in his tweet, he was told a little fib by his source.
No matter what anyone says. I still don’t see how to make the numbers work if 38 million votes came from Arkansas. And I doubt that AI will release the numbers. They have nothing to gain from it.
I am still troubled by the low vote total — just under 100 million sounds low to me.
Here’s the vote totals for the last four seasons:
AI4 – 65 million
AI5 – 63.5 million
AI6 – 74 million
AI7 – 97.5 million
AI8 – just about 100 million
So, why didn’t AI announce the vote totals? I think it might be because it was less than AI7. With their decline in ratings, announcing a lower vote total just does do them any good.
I completely agree! I guarantee nothing close to that came out of Arkansas last year, even with a bit of extra support for David Cook because he was from KC (close to Arkansas). If you take the 38 million away…that leaves only 62 million for the rest of the entire country, which is lower than season 4.
and zsus….no, I don’t believe it at all. great thoughts.
The comparison to LA/SD vs. Conway isn’t really one. There was no public movement in either city to get an Adam Win (I live in Los Angeles and my sister lives in San Diego). There was obviously a very organized, publicized and government-sponsored (??) movement to get Kris votes. California is not a “back-your-person” place since celebrities are more common than a sense of community. It just doesn’t work like that. I live in a part of Los Angeles that would probably elect to chuck me out of they knew I watched American Idol in a non-ironic way and actually supported a contestant.
I still find this interesting. The Fox article is backpedaling, but I can see how it was possible. It’s definitely eye opening in general though since I know that if I watch the show next year that I should not get too attached to a non-hometown glory contestant. Kris was quite popular on his own, I am sure, but this does make me go hmm. Even if it wasn’t 38 million, nor a landslide, there was an obvious big Arkansas push for votes which could have just pushed it in favor of Kris.
ETA:
It is possible. I had my computer dialing for Adam and it was crazy-clogged. I got more in for Adam the week previously in a half hour than I did in almost four hours. I am sure the same was for Kris as well.
Plus, if you take out the “hometown glory” vote in other seasons… who knows what the totals look like? The closest we have is Kat vs. Taylor, but I don’t remember the breakdown there.
Seriously, it is possible to get tons of votes in by texting. It’s not just Kris fans (I am not singling him out here), but I have seen lots of fans claim to get up to 10,000 in during voting periods. It doesn’t take that many power voters to get into the 30 million mark.
….but I can see how it was possible.
Zsus, not sure I agree with the theory, I just know something just doesn’t add up here — but I don’t know what it is. Here are the facts:
1. There were a lot of votes from Arkansas – this was an organized power-voting effort that looked more like a grassroots political campaign rather that typical AI fan voting. I tip my hat the the people at krisallennation.com and in Conway for this strategy. When it is all said and done, this is what tipped the voting to Kris, and this is what will change the way the AI voting game is played in the future.
2. We know that there were just under 100 million votes. Not very impressive compared to prior years since unlimited text messaging is more widespread and there are more AT&T cell phone owners than ever before.
3. Phones were busy all over the country for the full 4 hours — for both contestants — not just in Arkansas, and not just for Kris.
4. The post-voting social media measurements of people’s reported voting had the race too close to call. Dial Idol had the race too close to call. Most data-based analysis had the race too close to call.
5. The vote totals were not released by AI.
6. We all should placed money bets on Kris because the betting houses and bookies are paying out.
7. The voting was driven by support the contestant that people thought was the better singer — not by the “culture war” Christain v. Gay.
Things that have no support:
1. There were 38 million votes from Arkansas. There is NO official AT&T statement to back it up.
2. Kris was way ahead in the vote. No support for this.
My guess:
1. There were less than 97.5 million votes; so they don’t want to release the total.
2. The vote was close enought that Kris would not have won without the power-vote from Arkansas and they don’t want a repeat of the Clay v. Ruben contraversy. That’s not good for ratings or record sales.
I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt that we will every see the official vote total.
Look I agree that it was difficult getting an Adam vote thru DialIdol or Gizmo. I got thru 0 DialIdol votes in 4 hours, and only about 4 Skype votes. But Kris voters also reported similar problems.
But we sent about 1,000 text messages and got in a few hundred phone votes — mostly by cell. Now, I might have had an advantage because I am in North Mississippi and in the Central time zone, but I found that the last hour of voting — after midnight Eastern Time, I got thru a lot of votes.
I won’t ever get involved in Idol voting again. It is just a waste of time. UNLESS THEY CHANGE THE RULES TO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF VOTES PER PHONE and eliminate the computer generated voting that allowed voters to vote for 8 hours.
And UNLESS THEY ADOPT SOME KIND OF FAIR VOTING REFORM, I will never watch the show again.
I still can’t fathom that 3,000,000 people in Arkansas cast 38,000,000 votes. How is this possible? That’s over 12.5 million for each individual. Are the elderly as well as every infant in the state power voting this many votes and doing it in 4 hours? Can someone please explain how this is possible? I want to know how to cast 12.5 million votes.
This story has now been refuted by AT&T: http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Conway-reacts-to-Kris-win/sv8BNSsGY0G8GRZWSr0fRw.cspx
It says:
Fox16 is the one who originally said 38 million…now they say it isn’t true. It was likely a misunderstanding in the frenzy of the moment.
This absurd rumor can now be put to rest.
With a bit better math? ;) 38,000,000 divided by 3,000,000 is closer to 12.5. :) All it takes is thousands of enthusiastic texters to get that number. It’s not that farfetched.
ETA:
TKat, now you are spinning my head in a different direction. It’s rather telling that they didn’t do percentages this year or vote differences. :/
my bad mj, got a little exicted last night:)
You have a good point, but your math is way off. 38,000,000 divided by 3,000,000 is only 12.6, not 12.6 million.
Calliope, it is completely far-fetched to believe that less than 1% of the American population is responsible for almost 40% of the vote.
It is no surprise, then, that the story has been officially refuted: http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Conway-reacts-to-Kris-win/sv8BNSsGY0G8GRZWSr0fRw.cspx
It was an innocent mistake, but I think the sites that ran this mistake should probably now run a correction. MJ, lots of sites link to you…is there any way you could announce the fact that AT&T has officially denied this?
It’s possible, and it doesn’t take a lot of voters:
At 4,000 votes each you only need 9,500 voters to get 38,000,000 votes
At 1,000 votes each you only need 38,000 voters to get 38,000,000 votes
Note: according to krisallennation,com, the #1 Kris fan site, the voters who reported their vote totals early Wed. morning averaged over 4,000 votes each. On this and other sites, several Kris voters claim to have used 3 Go phones, a 20 person call list to send 20 message votes at the same time, to exceed 40,000 votes each.
The only problem I have is that I can’t believe there were only about 60,000,000 votes from the other 50 states.
MJ – why not start a thread on how to fix the AI voting problem? I think the fact that it is possible for a small number of people to change the AI outcome is really troubling.
AT&T is denying the 38 Million figure.
The only reason I doubt this is because there’s a certain bandwidth (?) per city that only contain a certain amount of phone calls. I think I read about this too in prior seasons when they were talking about a hometown advantage.
No, it is not. Most of America’s population doesn’t vote and AI vote totals come from fanbases, rabid and all. I would even guess a lot of Arkansas didn’t vote. There were Adam fans online who said the got 8,000 texts in. Enthusiasm and determination does count for something.
Also, whether the number is right or wrong, it’s out there now and building steam because Arkansas seemed to be proud AND organized an effort. They were happy to broadcast this yesterday, until they realized it doesn’t actually look as good as they thought once they came. Whether it’s 38 million or 3 million the hometown story for Kris Allen could have had an effect over which could have been a close race. Or clobbered Adam in a landslide.
I mean, I always thought the casual viewer could have an effect here, but apparently not.
You are not going to get thousands of people in any one place to learn how to power-vote. Most people call…Arkansas is not this land of technical wizards. Just like the rest of America, only a small percentage of people are going to vote for American Idol, even if the hometown guy is on the show. Of that small percentage, a much smaller percentage will learn how to power-text.
Plus, the story has been officially rebutted by AT&T.
(Again: http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Conway-reacts-to-Kris-win/sv8BNSsGY0G8GRZWSr0fRw.cspx)
So, it (1) doesn’t make logical sense, and (2) has been denied by AT&T. What more evidence do we need?
Look, I think that the overall situation here is that the VOTING system for American Idol is fucked.
It needs to be overhauled and structured differently for a more representative vote total.
Imagine if presidential elections were held via telephone voting and texting…absolute chaos and constant screams of voter fraud. End the madness. One vote per telephone numberà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ period.
Rbidol – I don’t think 38 million votes came from Arkansas (as I’ve said above), but this is not a denial. It is a statement that they will not say how many votes came from Arkansas. I think someone from Telescope should issue a real denial. The have the data.
If Kris fans really believe that Kris won the national vote, not just the Arkansas vote, they should demand that TPTB release this vote totals AND actually deny this. I really think it is going to haunt Kris for years otherwise. Just like Ruben was diminished by winning unfairly with the phone line issues for years.
And since there was clearly massive power voting from Arkansas — at an unprecented level — then there is some factual support for the number. I mean you all crashed DialIdol and Gizmo.
AC, there is no bandwidth issue if you text message — and those text messaged Go phone votes count just as much as a phone vote.
That Fox16 article was CHANGED. When i read it a few hours after the result was announced, it says “AT&T reported 38 million votes came from Arkansas”!!
DAMAGE CONTROL MUCH?
THIS is the cache of the Fox16 News page last night: You can still see the title!
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:YNbo0B3my_EJ:www.fox16.com/news/local/ “Conway reacts to kris’ win”&cd=8&hl=vi&ct=clnk&gl=vn&client=firefox-a
I SMELL SOMETHING FISHY!
Besides that others upthread have shown how this was easily possible, TKat also pointed out that:
And there won’t be – AT&T is an official AI sponsor. Their arse is undoubtedly grass right about now. AI was strangely mum on the voting last night. No wonder Simon was so pissed.
Fox16 is, of course part of the Fox Network that broadcasts AI, the biggest money maker in television. Of course they’ll deny it, along with AT&T.
The cover-up of this will be interesting to watch unfold. Or maybe the power of AI/Fox is such that it’s already a done deal.
Exactly. This is NOT a denial. I bet 38 million votes did come from AK, but TPTB don’t want that known.
ATT is not denying anything. They’re pleading the 5th.
And if it was such a blowout, why didn’t Ryan say so? And then why did he reveal the 12M vote gap last year?!?
Especially since I just clicked on that and even the cache no longer exists. Looks like Damage Control is well under way.
Word.
You’re missing the point. They are the ones that originally reported this, and the only source to do so. Now they are taking it back, so there is nothing to support that number. I’m telling you, the people on that news station are awful and have no credibility, someone threw a number to them and they ran with it before checking it out. They have only had news on that station for a couple of years, and they are not a reliable news station at all. They messed up, and are now trying to correct it.
:rolleyes_tb: I highly doubt Alaska had that many votes come out.
ETA: Also, read it again…they’re saying they can’t confirm how many came from Arkansas, and can’t comment on how many either contestant got. In other words, they know but can’t say how many each contestant got, but don’t even know for sure how many came from each state.
They are the ones that started this and the ONLY source to say that 38 million came from AR, and are being very clear here that they don’t know the number.
Here is a statement from AT&T. It would be nice if for once bloggers would actually do some reporting. Like every company, AT&T has a media relations office. Just call them and ask. Of course, that would take all the fun out of spreading rumors. The initial report had said: AT&T “SAYS”……
Some how news spread that there were 38 million votes from Arkansas. AT&T says, “We can’t confirm how many votes were cast in Arkansas, and we can’t comment on the number of votes for any contestant.” – Natasha Collins, AT&T spokeswoman.
Oh my gosh.
Tell me this: where did the original 38 million number come from? Where? Name the person? Second, how does this person know?
It seems to me that we have here an unsourced rumor. What makes this unsourced rumor so believable? The DialIdol numbers DO NOT back this up. Logic does not back it up…if it were so easy to get large numbers of people to vote thousands of times, how come the national vote count is only 100 million votes? And Arkansas is 38 thousand! This would require a major effort in Arkansas to teach large numbers of people to powervote.
Give me the name of the person who said 38 million votes? Who is he or she? How does he or she know?
I have more proof that illegal votes were cast last night. I tried to post a question about the use of Gizmo on the American Idol sight because I believe that the use is against the voting rules. And they won’t even post the word gizmo — they convert it to *****.
AI voting — What a joke.
Here’s the change in the Fox News article here that was linked earlier.
On 5/20 at 10:45 pm:
Updated today at 12:22 pm:
carolinacharms. read the AT&T statement above.
they didn’t plead the 5th. they said they couldn’t confirm how many votes were cast. in other words, they don’t know.
of course, the initial report last night started out:
AT&T “says”……….etc.
I love how folks now want to change the voting system. Of course, they liked it last year when David Cook won through power voting.
And to answer an earlier question. AI does not always announce the votes or percentages.
Bo Bice fans were reeling because they didn’t believe he lost to Carrie. Later, Ryan Seacrest said that they didn’t bother to announce any numbers because it wasn’t even close.
So AI has been inconsistent on this. One year they do it, another they wont.
In year one, they gave the percentages for Kelly and Justin. it was in the ballpark of 58 to 42 or 56 to 44.
Well if that’s not stone-cold proof, I don’t know what is. :rolleyes_tb: :wallbash_tb:
Of course, it could be that they just don’t want Gizmo talked about because they don’t want to be an instrument of spreading that out…but nah that would mess up your conspiracy theory too much.
Of COURSE Kris won the national vote! How to do you think he was on top at DialIdol all night long!
How is Kris any different than David Cook or any of the other winners, all of whom had great hometown support. Why should Kris have to meet a higher burden of proof?
If there were so many more votes coming from Arkansas, the dial idol busy percentages from that state would be off the charts. They aren’t…they are exactly average. But…oh wait…of course, this must mean that the people of Arkansas are all text-messaging experts, whereas the rest of the country votes the old-fashion way.
Listen, in this country we can’t get more than 50% of the people to vote for President, even when you live in his home state…and yet we believe that a large percentage of AR people mastered complex text messaging strategies to powervote. Despite the fact that we have a named source at AT&T saying that this information is not available.
The burden of proof is not on Kris and his fans. Again, give me your source for the original 38 million. Give me a name.
Robbie Willis posted on his website last night: http://www.robbiewills.com/2009/05/20/american-idol-votes-are-in/
And do you HONESTLY think that people would pull that shocking figure out of their asses, put it on an official FOX News website (in a very congratulatory way, i might add), and only changed it upside down 15 hours afterwards? AFTER it went viral on the internet and infuriated all the fans. Does it seem like a mad scramble to control the damage to you? Fox must be getting quite a couple of angry emails right now.
Oh wait, but some of you honestly believe Kris Allen was the better singer, so i guess nothing really matters to you.
Really??? hmmm…let’s see, Wal-Mart–the largest retailer, oh wait no, the largest company in the world is based (founded) in Arkansas
JB Hunt–the largest trucking company–based (and founded) in Arkansas
Tyson Foods–the largest meat producer in the world–based (and founded) in Arkansas
Dillard’s–a large high-end retailer–based (and founded) in Arkansas
The economy–not so bad here in Arkansas
The first president who was a Rhodes Scholar? from Arkansas
Billy Bob Thornton…okay, bad example
yeah, we’re a bunch of fools here in Arkansas….you mean there’s such a thing as power voting? wow! What’s a cell phone anyway???
What else do we have??? Oh yeah….the current American Idol!
rbidol, if you have the ability, please think before you speak!
Who said Kris is the better singer? Even Kris doesn’t say that. He is an equal artist to Adam, albeit a very different one, and it’s really not that crazy that America could have voted for him. And again, this is not a singing competition, if it was they wouldn’t be allowed to play instruments, arrange songs or work on the clothing and lights and everything. And if it was just singing, Adam would not have won.
I’m telling you…that fox station’s news sucks and it’s absolutely possible they were lied to or misunderstood about that number and then had to correct it. I don’t see what makes that so unbelievable?
Actually, they were 1 % point apart, a statistical dead heat.
lol, QueenChiro, I was not actually intending to insult Arkansas or its wonderful people. I certainly don’t think they are any smarter or dumber than the rest of America. This isn’t about that. It’s about whether they were able to put in almost 40 million votes for American Idol, when the rest of the country could only muster 60 million. It’s nothing personal.
ugh, this is getting surreal. People are completely devoted to a number, even though they cannot give a source for the number. We have NO IDEA from whom it came. We have a named source saying that that information is not available. In this case, the named source makes a whole lot more sense!!!
This fact came from the local news channel. Do you watch local news? Where you come from, does local news ever make a mistake in the heat of the moment?
As I have said, this could have been an exaggeration…or an honest mistake. Are you unable to imagine some low-level AT&T worker saying, “Wow, phone lines were so busy last night! We must have had 38 million votes or something!” An over-eager young, local reporter could take that and run. It happens every day with local news.
It would be one thing if this number were not absurd, but come on… Look, the only objective numbers we have are DialIdol. Can anyone find any evidence on DialIdol to support this? The phone voters on DialIdol split almost 50/50 in Arkansas for Kris and Adam. Why do we believe the text message voters went so heavily for Kris that it makes this “Arkansas Idol”?
Somebody…give me some kind of proof that is not based on an unnamed source that how now been denied officially by AT&T!!!
I guess it’s easier to believe that 1% of the population of the US put in almost 40% of the vote than to believe that your guy lost Idol.
Seriously, the entire communications grid of Arkansas would have melted down under the pressure of that vote. It would have been the major story on every TV channel in the state. The hospitals and police would have been unable to get emergency calls. So it would have been bigger than some nameless At&T dude making a comment.
Yes, and in AR they are less than 2 points apart, also a statistical dead-heat.
And even though it was statistically tied, Kris was on top all night for the national vote. If it were just Arkansas, that would be obvious on Dial Idol. It isn’t.
alright, rbidol…..you’ve redeemed yourself….I went back and re-read your posts and think you are making and incredibly valid arguement. I have no belief in the rumor at all. I live here and run a small business. There’s virtually no talk of idol last night. We just got back from lunch at a local restaurant and saw no signs around saying ‘way to go Kris’ or heard anyone at the other tables talking about last night’s events. While I do believe there are some people who were rabidly behind the guy in the state, the idea that there were enough people here that took the time to power vote is ludicrous. I wanted the guy to win and have really gotten into the whole thing this year, but I used my phone and only got through 4 times.
That says it all right there. And, if 1% of the country put up 40% of the votes, then the rest of the country got what it deserved.
:-) Thanks, QueenChiro. I in no way want to say anything against Arkansas, home of our American Idol! I just think a lot of people are eager to dismiss Kris on extremely flimsy evidence.
Then again, I guess I am glad people are now blaming regional voting more than homophobia. This is at least a little less divisive.
I agree with rbidol. No previous winner has had to justify/explain getting extra support from their hometown/state. The 38 million votes number is high — if it is correct — but we have no idea how many of Cook’s, Sparks’, Hicks’ votes came from their hometown/state. The winner is the person who gets the most votes — that is the rule. Kris got the most votes. He deserved to win.
Maybe more people just preferred Kris’ vocals.
Or is that completely unthinkable?
Maybe they can’t confirm for “legal” reasons. How can they not know? I have ATT and I see on my bill how many texts I make. Even with unlimited, which I have. I just logged into my AT&T account and I can count the number of texts I sent for Adam. AT&T knows.
ETA: Dial Idol does NOT reflect text messaging. So if the bulk of the 38 million were text messages, it won’t show up on Dial Idol.
jpfan — I respectfully disagree. All the evidence points to Arkansas power voters being the deciding factor.
There is no evidence of angry Gokey voters or only most evidence of anti-gay voting.
We have no idea how many people voted for Kris or Adam, we don’t know how many people voted, we don’t even know the number of total votes.
Evidence of Arkansas power voters —
1. krisallennation.com recruited over 1,000 people to pledge votes for Kris. This is directly taken from their site; posted at 2:44 AM early Wed. morning:
2. KA voters crashed Dial Idol and Gizmo by overloading it with people.
3. Conway AT&T reported record sales of Go phone and particular interest in West Coast and Hawaii area codes.
Holy moly. Just 105 people in Conway did it with Go phones. Sorry, I don’t believe it. And their 450K votes is still 37.5 million short of what the Ark. vote was supposed to be.
I think TKAT was referring to one “voting party” turning in their numbers to whoever was coordinating all of the voting groups.
Why does nobody think things like this should be ILLEGAL in Idol voting? It’s gone too far…. *sigh*
This show is a now a complete and utter joke. Ugh.
Also, it seems a lot of you don’t seem to know how DialIdol works. If somebody is on top for the first hour, it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE for that ground to be made up using the DI formula.
If you think I’m full of shit, I will give you a perfect example: Lil Rounds declared safe by DI the week she was voted off, due to DI votes in ONE area code of ONE state.
Let’s just get this straight – the DIALIDOL argument about Kris being “on top” all night… people should shut the hell up about it. Because it doesn’t matter. All it said on Tuesday was that all lines were nearly equally busy at all times.
It’s ABOUT POWER TEXTING HERE PEOPLE.
IT NEEDS TO GO AWAY.
LOL!
Word. But sounds like it won’t happen unless AI is held accountable for the integrity of this vote.
And in other news, Hell just froze over. :ponder_tb:
I’m sorry, but could you explain how this is proof of anything. I don’t know if it’s still true, but back in Season 5, if you typed MJ or mjgsbigblog on the American Idol site, it was also converted to stars. Seemed they didn’t like spoilers. I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t proof the MJ was illegal (well grass is illegal, but not this site). AI just doesn’t want people talking about gizmo. And I’m not sure how votes can be “illegal”. Did congress pass some Daughtry Bill I’m not aware of?
People have been using Skype and gizmo to vote for years. I know Adam fans that used them this week too. I don’t for a moment think that Adam fans are Luddites while Kris got all the techno wizzes.
But you can also look at the DI returns for each individual 15 minute chunk of time.
Look, if this technology that lets people vote thousands of times in a few hours was available to anyone, why didn’t the rabid Adam-lovers use it? Or was it some kind of secret science only Arkansas folks got from some evil genius in their midst?
I’m sorry, but you cannot “blame” Kris’s win on anything other than him getting more votes — and apparently quite a few more votes.
I saw some bulk voting instructions on Kris Allen fansites that were also available to Adam fanciers. So why didn’t they Or, good grief, maybe Adam fans also did mega-voting, and Kris still won?
Colette, we did. It just wasn’t an organized group effort by a hometown At all, and most people just don’t bother to realize that.
Look at both their official sites right now…. DOUBLE the people on Adam’s site as opposed to Kris.
It was skewed and screwed up, why can’t some of you just realize that already?
I’m pretty sure they did. I’ve said before, the suggestions for power-voting were posted on Adam forums long before I saw anything from Kris’s fanbase. And while I’m sure the Arkansas public were behind Kris, the impression I’ve gotten online over the past few weeks is that Adam’s fans are far more ‘rabid’ than Kris’s.
And what does that show? That they were equal for all parts of the 4 hours…. AND adam scored more votes on DI! Wow…. again. I am going to say this again. the DI site is not useful at all.
I’m sorry, what? How do you figure that, because he was on top? Perhaps he just, oh, IDK, had more votes.
If Adam had won no one would be complaining about voting practices right now, even if the 38 million votes RUMOR came from his side of things.
And there’s no way votes for Adam could have helped do that??
I doubt those supposed 38m votes from Arkansas were all done via Gizmo or DI. So if all of Arkansas was texting for Kris and his fans crashed DI and Gizmo by power-voting, I’m starting to wonder if any of those 100m votes were for Adam. *rolls eyes*
Obviously not as rabid as Arkansas politicians. :mrgreen_wp:
I don’t get the Arkansas politician line. You mean Bill Clinton? Because he was their governor before he became President.
I guess if David Archuleta had won last year, it wouldn’t have been a joke. Because I saw PLENTY of people buying and handing out gophones for fans to use to vote for Archie last year. I also saw people telling each other how to use Skype and such. But wait…he didn’t win, so their efforts didn’t work.
…Or is it that Kris fans were just much better at it than Archie fans? :P
I think you only have to look at the news coverage the two finalists have gotten in their hometowns/states to see why such a tremendous number of power votes could have come in for Kris. It’s just a whole different mindset. There were even quite negative articles about Adam in San Diego papers, and the local newspeople there seemed pretty dismissive or uninterested in the whole thing. They certainly weren’t in any sort of get-out-the-vote mode for Adam.
Quite the contrary, you have Kris getting not only near daily positive coverage in his state, but organized local campaigns aimed at getting people to power-vote for Kris in the most efficient way, i.e. texting, including the use of Go Phones registered in other area codes for extending the voting window.
I just don’t think the number is unreasonable. I’m one person and I put in between 12,000 and 15,000 votes per week the entire Idol season during 2 hour voting windows.
Oh i was referring to this guy..
http://www.robbiewills.com/2009/05/20/american-idol-votes-are-in/
The speaker who has so much time on his hands…………
I’m off the “Arkansas vote train” to explain Kris’s win BTW, was just having a little fun, since we’re still talking about it
Because it is well known within the American Idol production team that Nigel Lythgoe did his best to screw with Archuleta. Why do you think Simon Fuller sacked Lythgoe last year.
Does your location matter when voting , or whether you are using a landline or cellphone, because I dialed for 4 hours Tuesday night and got through a total of 6 times? I assumed everyone in the country was having the same problem but am blown away by the fact that you got in 12,000 votes to my 6. I’m using a Sprint cellphone from New Jersey. Most weeks I can barely get through for the first hour but the lines loosen up during the second hour to the point where maybe one in 10 attempts gets through. I know text messages always go through but I don’t have AT&T
Doubtful that 38 million votes came from Arkansas. Look at the population of Arkansas using WolframAlpha — not even 3 million people.
# People in Arkansas
Brewster, interesting, but isn’t that just a rumor?
Please correct your story. Fox 16 in Little Rock has retracted theirs, and shown their bad (but enthusiastic) journalism. 38% of the votes coming from Arkansas’ tiny population? Definitely not logical.
* CORRECTION
Based on incorrect information provided to one of our reporters, FOX16 News reported Wednesday night, an extraordinary number of votes came in from Arkansas to American Idol.
AT&T spokesman Ted Wagnon told us today, “AT&T does not divulge or confirm how many votes were cast in any state.”
We apologize for the error.
The ability for people to vote as many times as technologically possible has made the voting process the real competition and not the singing. The power to make a difference with your vote is one of the fundamental elements that made AI a success. If the public does not feel that their vote counts, the show’s appeal diminishes and the show’s popularity will fade. Ameican Idol should change the voting procedures for next year.
The public loses interest in actually voting for their favorite because now we are up against techniques like what Arkansas fans did with their phone/text/computer strategy (4,000 votes per person over ALL time zones). The record results indicates that it has become a technological competition. Next year others will find even more creative ways to beat the system. AI may get a ‘billion’ votes to brag about, but it will be done by computers and therefore meaningless.
The current voting method is unfair to contestants and the public. Tell AI what you think: askfox@fox.com
How about this idea for new voting procedures – you get 10 votes per device (landline and cell) and 10 texts on ALL carriers not just AT&T. You then choose how you want to divide them up among the contestants. Some may split them between favorites and others may give someone all their votes.
I suspect that there is big money in this for AI and their advertisers. Having all those text votes coming in means many people’s cell phone bills will show extra charges if they exceed their limit. I also think that they love to say “the highest number of votes ever…”. I used to think it was a big deal if I redialed 10 times for one contestant. Now I realize how foolish I was…
lbm, thanks for the Fox link. I sent them an email echoing your suggestion about the 10 votes per device. You know how nice that will be if you can only vote 10 times? I hope the take the suggestion.
If you read this closely, ATT never said the 38 million number was wrong. They said it was their policy not to divulge or confirm the number of votes cast in any state.
I think someone released some information in error. I’m sure Fox called to confirm the number with an ATT’s spokesperson and got the above statement.
Fox had no choice but to retract it, (even if the figure is correct) because no one will now go on the record with that figure. Whoever released it to begin with may have been fired or suspended by now. I’m sure it is part of the ATT contract with AI not to release figures.
I’m not saying the 38 million is true, but I don’t think ATT did a very good job of putting out that fire.
I think AI should address the whole power voting issue (all contestants have fans that do it) and use lbm’s suggestion above.
I think we would all be thrilled for our own personal reasons if each device was limited to 10 votes each. Imagine how much more free time we would have on Tuesdays?