by Shilo Dawn Goodson

Created on: July 22, 2008

I think there are many "American Idol" fans who did not even realize there was a scandal involving Kristy Lee Cook, let alone one that would be bad enough to impact her elimination. I personally didn't know about the scandal. On my own, I figured that it was either about the record deal that she already had (which was not a unique thing since other contestant had also had record deals previously) or it was about the whole issue of her trying to guilt the guy into selling her back her horse. Neither seemed like they were scandals worthy of impacting her elimination. So I looked it up.

For those of you who were as clueless as me, it's a scandal about pictures and videos of Cook dressed pretty skimpy. In a sense, it streams back to her previous record deal. In the music video for Cook's first single, she was in bed with an older man even though at the time she was only about 17. During part of the video she had a wet white tank top, which clings pretty snuggly to her body. Plus, in a later portion of the video she sings in her lingerie. Photos from this music video along with other photos of her ended up on a web site. In the photos she's nearly naked. There are also videos on the web site which supposedly show Cook stripping. There are questions of if all the photos and videos are even real or if some of them are a hoax. That's the whole scandal. There's really not much to it. Maybe that's why a lot of us never even heard about it.

Looking at the music video part of the scandal, First of all, although Cook is only 17 at the time of the video, she could easily pass for at least four years older. If you look at her left hand or the guy's left hand, you'll see wedding rings. They are suppose to be married for the music video. Plus, although the clothes are revealing, there are plenty of music videos which have people with less clothes on them than this one.

Looking at Season 7, if anyone was eliminated early for a scandal, it was David Hernandez. He had the whole male stripper scandal. I'll admit that it made me think of him a little bit differently, although it did not actually change my vote. If that hadn't become a scandal, he probably could have held on another week and beat Amanda Overmyer. Of course, that wouldn't have helped him much anyway, because he still wouldn't have been able to go on tour.

Cook's problem had nothing to do the scandal or lack of a scandal. It had everything to do with her. Although Cook is an extremely talented singer, she had trouble showing that sometimes. She would have really good nights where she would stand out as one of the really good ones, and she showed why she was in the competition. Then she would have less good nights where I was actually surprised she survived the elimination. By having these mix of good and bad nights, her fans never knew if they should expect a good performance or a bad one. She didn't just have one bad night. For weeks in a row, she had bad nights. I think her fans realized she wasn't reliable. They couldn't count on a good performance, and that's what caused her elimination.

Of course, ultimately it might not make that big of a difference in her career anyway. She'll make a whole bunch of money off of her own recording contract, and maybe she'll even do better than those who finished above her. In the end, "American Idol" isn't so much about winning anymore. It's just about making it to a certain point and establishing your career from there. That's what Cook has already done, scandal or no scandal.

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