This week it was revealed that some AT&T employees went to Arkansas parties the night of the American Idol finale and taught the people there how to “power text”. The problem: American Idol prohibits “power voting” by text or phone, and has internal safeguards against the practice. While anyone in the United States could phone in votes, only AT&T customers were allowed to text. And according to reports two of the 20 phones sent to “Kris Allen” parties in Arkansas were capable of sending multiple votes by so-called “power texting.” However, a person with knowledge of the voting results, said Kris Allen won by a large enough margin that a handful of voters with two “power texting” phones could not have swayed the outcome.

According to AT&T, “a few local AT&T employees” were invited to attend local viewing parties in Arkansas for the “American Idol” finale, parties the company said were similar to other, “countless” ones held in “homes, bars and other public places” nationwide. AT&T said in its statement: “Caught up in the enthusiasm of rooting for their hometown contestant, they brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.” In a joint statement, Fox and producer FremantleMedia said the results were “fair, accurate and verified” by an independent, third-party monitor to protect the integrity of the voting process. “In no way did any individuals unfairly influence the outcome of the competition. Kris Allen is, without a doubt, the American Idol.“

Popularity: 2% [?]

Early in the finals, Simon Cowell chided the new American Idol champ for bringing out his wife so early in the game. Apparently, the acerbic judge thought Kris Allen’s fans will stop voting for him as he is not available anymore. And the truth is, even Kris’ wife thought the same, LOL! That was how supportive Katy Allen was to her singer hubby! ^_^ According to Kris Allen, “I did the music scene in Arkansas, which isn’t that big, and it didn’t work out and I almost gave up. My wife has been the support ever. I seriously almost gave up a lot and she was just like you have to keep going. She believed in me more than I believed in myself.” And look where he is now! The saying “Behind every man’s success is a woman.” is definitely true! =)

And according to Kris Allen, the one thing he is really looking forward to getting back to is being a husband. He said to Katy after winning American Idol, “Ah, we can be married.” He then explained to reporters backstage after the finale: “We haven’t been able to be married for the last nine months. She’s amazing. She’s just the coolest chick in the world. Hopefully, me and my wife will get to spend some more time together.” Kris Allen also says they definitely know their lives will change with the win. He reveals, “She’s been out here during the whole thing and been going through all this [as well] so we’ve kind of been getting ourselves ready for everything. Things are definitely going to change, but we’re really strong and she’s really cool so [I’m sure] everything’s going to be fine.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

Yesiree! The visually impaired should have had a showcase performance like the other 9 American Idol finalists had. Unfortunately, Scott MacIntyre’s planned duet with fellow contestant Matt Giraud was scrapped just hours before Wednesday’s finale. He blogged in his MySpace page:

“We had two gorgeous grand pianos facing each other on stage, the piano curves fit together like shoes in a shoebox, and close-up camera shots of our fingers and faces … as we sang in turn through Billy Joel’s ‘Tell Her About It’ and dueled it out in a tear-it-up piano solo section. According to some of the producers who witnessed our rehearsal, it was the most exciting and memorable number of the entire Finale show. I have the original Finale flow sheet right here showing the piano duel immediately after Kris Allen and Keith Urban.”

WOW! It does indeed sound exciting! So what happened? Scott MacIntyre revealed, “Out of the blue about 9:30 AM [we] found out the duet had been cut and the decision was final … ‘American Idol’ had originally invited Billy Joel himself to perform with us, but he was unable to make it in the end; and because our duet was the only duet not involving another celebrity, it was the first thing to be cut when the show was condensed.” Awww, that’s just too bad! As with Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, Scott MacIntyre has die-hard fans and I’m sure they are disappointed with the scrapped performance. What happened American Idol??

Popularity: 2% [?]

Popularity, success and money are all fine but the latest champion of American Idol says he just wants respect in the music industry. Kris Allen told reporters in a conference call last Friday, “The only thing that I really want to do is just be respected in the music industry. And whether that means selling albums or winning Grammys or people just liking your music, that’s what I really want to do.” When Kris Allen won American Idol, he was guaranteed a record contract with 19 Recordings and its affiliated labels. He said he planned to release a CD soon after the US nationwide summer tour of this year’s top 10 Idol contestants.

Aside from the guaranteed album, Kris Allen will also star in a Disney commercial shouting the famous phrase “I’m going to Disney World!” =) He’ll also sing “When You Wish Upon A Star”. The American Idol tie-in relates to the “Idol” attraction that opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida this year. Disney licensed the rights to create the attraction, which allows allow guests to audition and perform before a live studio audience, from “Idol” co-producers 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia. Now, you can be Kris Allen or any Idol contestant you love!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Remember Bikini Girl? The infamous contestant who kissed show host Ryan Seacrest and had a quarrel with Kara DioGuardi during her American Idol auditions? Well, her stunt paid off and she got a spot on season 8′s finale! Unfortunately for Katrina “Bikini Girl” Darrell, the show’s producers played a lil prank on her. While she performed Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love”, her nemesis judge Kara DioGuardi surprised her onstage and sang along with her. Kara even bared her bikini body at the end of their performance! Bikini Girl shared,

“I don’t think she got the reaction she was hoping for. I think she probably thought I would cry or get mad, and I didn’t — I played it off. Looking back at the tape, she just made herself look stupid; she didn’t make me look stupid.”

Katrina Darrell added, “I knew there were 100 million viewers, so I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t get mad. I just had to smile and deal with it. The show producers kind of said, ‘I’m sorry.’ I think they tested me. I think I did really well, considering all that I went through.” After Kara DioGuardi stole her performance, Bikini Girl alleged her little sister had a nasty run-in with the American Idol judge backstage. Katrina recounted, “We were walking, and [Kara] said, ‘Oh, sweetie, I hope you didn’t take anything personally.. I rolled my eyes, and my sister said, ‘Hey, next time you try to upstage my sister, get a spray tan! How old are you — 45 or 50?’ I looked back and shrugged. She kind of said what I was thinking but couldn’t say!”

Popularity: 1% [?]

You can view Kris Allen’s first interview after winning American Idol HERE. Now, unto Adam Lambert! But first, some tidbits! If you wanna view his interview video now, go below & skip this part Anyway, the controversial singer has told the media that an album is in the near future but he says, “I don’t want to do one specific genre I’m more about fusion, I kind of like adding little elements of things into the final mix.” Adam Lambert also shared he would like to work with guitarist Slash, who served as a guest mentor on Idol, and with Queen guitarist Brian May, with whom he performed in the show’s finale. He says he has no immediate plans for Broadway but would like to act in a movie. Adam Lambert explains, “In the heyday of Hollywood, artists got to do everything. They did music and they did film. And I would love to go that direction.”

Watch Adam Lambert’s post-finale interview here!

Popularity: 1% [?]

And yes, you’re right, his first interview was on “American Idol Extra” =) If you wanna watch it like right now, just go straight to the videos below. If you wanna read some tidbits about Kris Allen and his winning season 8 of American Idol first then just read on! =) We all know by now that Kris was astounded when he won the title. Apparently he was astounded every week he remained on the show, LOL! He shared, “I was shocked. I felt shocked almost every week that I made it. And to be the American Idol, I’m completely shocked.” As for why Adam Lambert “deserves” the win, Kris Allen explains:

“I actually feel that. He deserves this just as much as I do. He’s an amazing performer and a gifted guy. And a really amazing guy. It was fun doing this with him. Adam does his thing and I’m going to do mine. That’s what I did throughout this whole competition and I think it worked. Obviously, it worked.”

And for Kris Allen, winning the title wasn’t the best part of American Idol. He related, “The best thing throughout the whole competition, and I know it sounds cheesy, but we made some really good friends. I love those guys. I really do.” And I believe that truly coz I can see how the finalists relate with each other! ^_^ Last tidbit: 38 million votes from the under 100 million casted last Tuesday came from Kris Allen’s state of Arkansas. And for that, he’s grateful: “I really, really appreciate that. I know that Arkansas was really behind me. Arkansas is a great state. And there’s not a whole lot happens in Arkansas, so I think they were rallying behind me.”

WATCH his exit interview here! ^_^

Popularity: 1% [?]