by Donna Walser

Created on: July 11, 2008

I have been an avid fan of American Idol for years. I truly believed it was the biggest stepping stone to launching someone into their dream career. I realise now that this is what the producers of the show simply want us to believe, and the reality is very different.

My suspicions about the shows authenticity were raised when I read the disclaimer at the end of the show which says that if the producers suspect auto dialling then votes will be adjusted for whichever Idol it involved. [Paraphrase]. That suggested to me that at the end of the day the producers would have the final say in who stays and who goes.

Then I discovered Votefortheworst.com. At first I was angry that the site was promoting the worst Idol and encouraging people to vote for them. I really couldn't take Sanjaya's hair and lack of singing talent for much longer, but then I began to read further and discover that what the site was actually doing was giving us the 'truth' about how fake the show actually is.

Certainly all their information on the last season's contestants was verified and shockingly accurate. No longer were we watching unknown's instead they were almost all 'I've tried and failed, so here I am to try again'. This was the producer's attempts at reviving the show. All it did was push the reputation of the show further down. It has lost all integrity as a brand.

So why has this website hurt American Idol? Quite simple because it's revealed the show to be a sham. The Idol franchise was built, as the spin tells us, on making a new pop star from an unknown. We discover now that we've been fed a line all these years. The producers have decided in advance who will be in the top 12, and even have a disclaimer that would enable them to decide the winner. Who would have thought that David Cook would win, and David Archuletta be left on the sidelines? Maybe the producers had enough of David Archuletta's father and really didn't want to be working with him anymore, not to mention the cost to the show caused by his interference in one of David's songs.

I'm in no way opposing Vote for the worst, I believe they have done a great service in exposing American Idol to be a sham. The site has hurt the show in the sense that in order to validate it's reputation once more, American Idol must review many of its production decisions. Without that review many viewers will switch off, no one likes to be conned.

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