Tidbits 4/15

• Access Atlanta - Atlanta Journal Constitution - "Idol"'s most shocking eliminations -

  2- Clay Aiken, runner up, season two. Clay fans are still peeved about this one and his post-“Idol” sales at least gave them some solace. His success also proved that victory isn’t necessary to do well after “Idol.” Interestingly, Nigel Lythgoe, the producer, said Clay was far ahead of the others in votes throughout the season. One technical issue may have made it closer than it could have been and may have tipped the balance for Ruben: busy signals. So many fans couldn’t get through that the lines were packed with votes the entire time, thus ensuring a very very close final vote count. This was also before texting was a regular phenomenon, which might have helped Clay. I do believe Clay would have won if there had been more phone lines available. Nonetheless, Ruben was a force to be reckoned and few could deny his skills.
  

• Seattle Pi - Idol prone to misdailed votes -

  As much as it is a nuisance for small businesses and private citizens, the misdialing can also lead to incorrect results. The article cited the extremely close race between Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, where the big guy won by only 130,000 votes. The next day, a phone company reported that it had errantly received 240,000 Idol calls during the voting period. Yikes, let's hope America listens to Ryan's dialing warnings so we don't have a recount debacle on our hands.

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