by Barb Hickey

Created on: March 20, 2009   Last Updated: March 21, 2009

This is Season 8 of American Idol and this week over 31 million people tuned and voted for their favorite contestant. American Idol, which is US version of the UK's Pop Idol, has been a huge success for eight years running. Much of this credit goes to Simon Cowell, the judge that everyone loves to hate. Prior to this season, there were three judges, Randy Jackson, a record producer and musician, Paul Abdul, a choreographer and singer, and Simon Cowell, a record company executive. For the past seven seasons, Randy has consistently delivered fair and mostly helpful critiques to the contestants. However, most people remember if he calls a contestant "Dawg" or says, "That was the bomb", it's a good thing. This year, his catch phrase is "That was dope". Paula, on the other hand, thinks all of the performances are great, and if they are so bad that she can't say that, she will compliment their outfit. Kara Dioguardi, singer and producer, was added to the judges mix this season. Kara comments add a technical perspective to the show. However, it is Simon Cowell that keeps the "reality" in the reality show by saying what many fans are thinking and this is why people love to hate Simon Cowell. The following are some of Simon's best comments from Season 8 so far.

On the Michael Jackson themed night, Anoop Desai performed Beat It. Randy said it was the wrong choice and sounded like karaoke and Kara said it was disconnected. Simon said, "It was horrible, light-weight and a bad impression of the original and I regret making it a Top 13." That same night, Megan Corkery sang Rockin' Robin. Kara said she puts her signature on everything and Paula called her quirky. Simon said, "It was a stupid song choice. It was clumsy and awkward and the vocals were bad." Later that evening, Adam Lambert sang Black and White and Simon said, "You are in a totally different league and that was better than the original version."

During Country week, Michael Sarver sang When The Sun Comes Up. Randy said it was a cool song choice, Kara said it showed his personality and Paula said he looked like he had fun. Simon said, "I couldn't understand a word. It was clumsy and on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 1.2." Adam Lambert performed a strange Middle Eastern sounding version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. Simon said, "What the hell was that? People are going to be throwing their televisions out the window. That was indulgent rubbish and horrific." His response to Anoop Desai's performance of Always On Mind, Simon said, "You just went from zero to hero. It was a good choice of song. It was the best performance of the night and I take back what I said last week and you do deserve to be here."

These are just some of the many real and honest comments made by Simon Colwell each week on American Idol that him the judge that viewers love to hate. American Idol would not be American Idol without Simon.

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