American Idol Manipulation

Kevin Covais finally got booted off American Idol last night. I could not understand how he was selected as one of the best vocalists in the U.S. to be shortlisted on American Idol nor why he kept showing up well into the finalist stage.

Turns out that he may have had some help.

Wired did an interesting piece on VoteForTheWorst.com. Here is an excerpt from their interview with Della Terza:

WN: When did you decide which contestant will be part of your American Idol campaign?

Della Terza: We pick who we feel is the worst contestant, and then we vote for that person until they go home. We chose Kevin Covais the last week of the semifinals, so we’ve been voting for him during the past three weeks. (VoteForTheWorst.com) likes to choose contestants that can’t sing, but we consider a lot more than just vocals. Kellie Pickler and Ace Young sing worse than Kevin does but we knew the viewers would be angrier if Kevin stuck around, so we went with him. I also think Kevin has an excellent sense of humor, and I think he’s kind of in on the joke. I think Kevin is really just a funny kid and people take him seriously when he says he’s a “sex symbol,” but he’s really just playing it up.

WN: Do you want to teach American Idol producers a lesson?

Della Terza: We don’t want to teach them a lesson as much as we want to make it obvious to the viewers that the show is extremely manipulated. It’s basically a “let’s promote our new musical act for 12 weeks while disguising it as a competition” show, and for some reason, the viewers just go along with it.

WN: Do you think American Idol manipulates the voting to make the show more dramatic?

Della Terza: I think it’s very likely that the producers manipulate the show. They have never released vote totals, so it’s incredibly easy for them to just change the numbers. A disclaimer at the end of the show says that they can throw out votes and they can kick out anyone from the competition. So really, there’s no one keeping them in check if indeed they do manipulate the show.

Via.