After being declared the champ by American Idol judges on Tuesday night, 17-year-old
David Archuleta saw voting viewers take the title away from him on Wednesday and
award it to 25-year-old David Cook. The show's judges on Tuesday were joined by se
veral talk-show hosts, entertainment magazine commentators, and newspaper columnists
in forecasting a win for the teenager. When host Ryan Seacrest announced on the show
Wednesday night that the final vote was not even close -- 56 percent to 44 percent
-- much of the audience appeared to believe that Archuleta was the big winner. Then,
just before the announcement, judge Simon Cowell, who had praised Archuleta the previous
night by saying that he had "won by a knockout," told Cook that he was sorry that
his words verged on the "disrespectful" to him. Cowell said that when he watched the
show at home, "it wasn't quite so clear cut as we called it." Seacrest said that
a record 97.5 million votes had been cast by viewers, with Cook winning by a margin
of 12 million.
22/05/2008
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