In the end, it was something of a toss-up between the two fellas left standing in the American Idol finale, but Kris Allen edged out Adam Lambert to say that he is the champion of the world (er, America). It had been widely assumed Adam would walk away with the title, so the announcement was shocking. A total of 100 million votes were tallied from Tuesday night, including my 75+ texts of “VOTE,” though my mistyped “FORT” likely did not count.
“Adam deserves this. I’m sorry,” is what Kris told host Ryan Seacrest immediately after hearing the news. That humble, disbelieving response squares with the stand-up guy that Kris showed himself as from the Louisville, KY tryouts to Wednesday night’s finale at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. But there’s also no way he (nor any of the other Idol contestants) could have ignored the drumbeat of praise pounding for Adam since the start of the competition. Talent aside (because Adam does have the chops), that’s why Kris’ win was shocking: It wasn’t the ending everyone had been expecting.
In Kris’ post-win interview on American Idol Extra, he said of Adam, “Most gifted performer that’s ever been on the show, and I love him to death.” I think we all know both singers are gonna do just fine (no shades of Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Justin Guarini, etc. here).
For me (for you?), the highlight of last night’s season wrap-up was Alison Iraheta joining Cyndi Lauper on stage. I found the duo’s tender take on “Time After Time” quite inspirational, and Kris later said the performance had him tearing up:
Taking it all in, now I’m seriously thinking about catching the Idol tour. Sure, it’ll be something of a cheesefest, but I had little shame about buying tickets for the So You Think You Can Dance tour two years back.
Oh, right. My very favorite reality competition in the whole wide world (miles better than what Simon Cowell called “that funny little dancing show or whatever it is [that films] next door”), kicks off tonight with a two-hour premiere at 8/7 Central on Fox.
Photo credit: AP Photo/FOX
