It's Jordin's Now

After an amazing finale that lasted well beyond the 2 hours it was scheduled to take (and thereby messing up all sorts of peoples' DVRs), the American voting public decided Jordin Sparks was their next American Idol!

There are a lot of people who were happy to see Jordin win, including some key people in the pool's top 5, but I think it's safe to say nobody was happier to see the show come to an end than this American Idol production staff member (Don't click on that if you're at all scandalized by strange craigslist postings). Here's hoping you found what it was you were looking for "Working at idol"!!!


Now, depending on what you read, American Idol is either losing it's steam or is still the behemoth it's always been. True - ratings were down 20% compared to last year's finale. However, check this out - The day after the finale, 11 of the top 16 google searches had to do with the American Idol finale. Here they are:

1. american idol winner
2. who won american ido...
3. american idol finale...
4. working class hero l...
5. smokey robinson
6. lost season finale
7. phillippi sparks
8. jordin sparks
9. bette midler
10. gladys knight
11. jimmy conway
12. tony bennett
13. rosie perez
14. wind beneath my wing...
15. lost message board
16. joe perry

Maybe the producers' season-long explanation that the ratings were down because of excessive DVR recordings held water after all. By the way, why were there more searches for Jordin's dad than for her?



Now, I'm sure by this point you've all read all sorts of commentary about the American Idol Finale, so we won't bore you with ours. However, we will bore you with Carolina Panters' Offensive Lineman Jordan Gross' thoughts. Click on his videos. It's filled with plenty of great insight.

If you ask us, the fact that the Charlotte station sent an NFL player to Hollywood to cover American Idol is just further proof that the show has permeated every level of America possible.


Did you know Jordin Sparks should have lost because she's overweight and when you look at her you see diabetes, heart disease, and high colesterol? Anyone see this clip? Anyone want to punch this woman in the face?



Who else fell asleep during Clive Davis' speech praising Carrie Underwood? At the NYC Idol Viewing party, it was reported that 1/2 the attendees thought Clive Davis was Rudy Giuliani - which is a little strange because the TV that the NYC people were watching the broadcast on was about as big as Simon's ego. I mean, Lisa Wagner certainly picked out every sparkle and bedazzle on both Blake and Jordin's outfits....yes, Blake was wearing sparkles on his argyle sweater. Just ask Lisa.

But, to get back to Clive Davis, he totally snubbed Kelly Clarkson during the long winded speech, and:

SONY/BMG execs were apologizing to members of Clarkson's camp for their label head's rude behavior.

What's more:

The 75-year-old owlish music mogul was tasked with speaking to the huge TV audience about the health of the "A.I" franchise and appeared to go out of his way to avoid mentioning Kelly's new single "Never Again" (which reached the Top 10 for heaven's sake!) or her forthcoming CD, "My December." Yet he somehow managed to find time to plug both Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee's new singles!

I guess her standing up to him over her new album's content rubbed him the wrong way.


Anyway, let's skip the rest of the incredible content that you witnessed on Wednesday night - the Sgt. Pepper's medley, Bette Midler, "Midnight Train to Georgia" and Gladys Night's hair malfunction, Smokey Robinson and his incredible bugged out eyes, Rueben and Jordin's take on Marvin and Tammi's "You're All I Need to Get By", Blake and Doug E. Fresh's beat boxing (Serico has a great take on it here), Blake and Jordin's version of "I Saw Her Standing There" (which, by the way, is a song about a seventeen-year-old. I know it's famous, and I know it fits the mold because Jordin is seventeen, but that song leads you to one place - statutory rape. That's right. I said it.), and Sanjaya and Joe Perry's version of "You Really Got Me" complete with crying girl (again?!?! I mean, she wasn't ridiculed at school the first time? She returned to the show and had the hysterics again?) - let's skip all that and get right to what's most important -


HOW THE AMERICAN IDOL POOL PARTICIPANTS WATCHED THE FINALE (a photo essay).

First off, here are some people who sent in pictures from New York. In attendance were Original Pool Member Lisa Wagner and fiance (and soon to be fellow Idol Pool participant) Denis Somar, Original Pool Member Brooke Stafford and boyfriend Jean Claude Brizzard, First Year Participant Darby Rice and boyfriend Dave Mingey, First Year Participant Chris Fitzgerald (who, by the way, reportedly had trouble identifying Melinda Doolittle and Blake Lewis on the TV) and girlfriend Kendra Coppey, American Idol fan Francesca Tedesco, and American Idol Pool Co-Founder Will Beekman.

Here's a shot of Brooke celebrating the fact that she didn't finish last this season with Jean Claude:


And here are Lisa and Francesca mugging for the camera while Denis can't believe that the girls are coming out to sing with Gladys in all white outfits BEFORE MEMORIAL DAY:



Meanwhile, in Chicago, co-founders Matty Lane and Brian Soucek threw an American Idol Finale viewing party where JoJo Conroy made an appearance!!!!!

Always shy around a camera, JoJo needed some persuading have his picture taken, but Matty and Brian got a good shot of the rarely photographed JoJo Conroy here:


Ethan from Lost (Tom Cruise's cousin) was also present:



Here are some action shots while the show was in progress:

Chris Serico got as close to Kelly Clarkson as physically possible at the Westchester County Vieweing Party:


While JoJo and Ethan from Lost got a great shot of Matty's reaction to Bette's "Wind Beneath My Wings":



But, when it came down to the time to announce the winner, everyone was extremely nervous:


When Jordin was announced, Amy Larsen at the Cambridge Viewing Party started celebrating:


So much so that she freaked out the dog:


But there was one person who was the most excited when Jordin was announced as this season's American Idol.....There was only one who was able to navigate his way through 51 entries this season and win it all. It took guts. It took moxy. Sometimes, when things were looking grim, this person had to reach down deep inside and think about what he was really worth, and then he came up with that little bit of extra strength to carry him forward. Bit by bit, baby step by baby step, he inched closer to his ultimate goal - winning the American Idol Pool 2007. Of course we are talking about the great, the brilliant, the sexy, the really cool, the valiant, the adorable -- Will Beekman.

And here he is as his life's pursuit of winning the American Idol Pool has been fulfilled as Jordin is being announced as the winner:




Finishing second this year is Marybeth Heyd, and it couldn't come to a more deserving person. Remember, Marybeth is the American Idol Pool's Neil Armstrong. She was the first person in the pool to attend a taping of American Idol (on historical girl-freaking-out-for-Sanjaya night) and she wrote the in-depth review what it's like to be there for the blog!

Congratulations to MB! It's nice to see someone who contributed to this season's pool do well!!!


Finishing third this year is Paul Peters. Paul had seemingly been left for dead very early on this season, but he was able to creep up week in and week out primarily by riding the coattails of Blake. The highest ranked person with Blake winning it all, Paul gave MB and Will a scare all the way until the end of the season when Jordin was announced as the winner.


Finish fourth this year is Kristin McCormick. Is Kristin the new Julie Rollauer? Just like Julie did for Pool 1 & Pool 2, Kristin has now finished in the money two years in a row! Last year she was the runner-up, and this year she finishes fourth. In two seasons that had 51 total participants each year, that is quite the accomplishment. Congrats to Kristin McCormick for finishing in the money two years in a row!


Finally, rounding out the winner's pool is Jennie Lane in 5th place. Jennie, like Paul Peters, had Blake winning it all, so she was able to move up and up the longer Blake stayed in it. In the end, when Blake didn't win, Jennie's run ended - but she had a very nice stretch at the end of the season. Congrats to Jennie!


As we mentioned earlier, since no one picked Jordin to win it all, the pool for the person/people to pick the American Idol correctly will be donated to Idol Gives Back.



One last thing - Will, MB, Paul, Kristin, and Jennie - you know the drill.....We need to see the pix of you accepting your winnings from someone ASAP so that they can be emailed out for everyone to enjoy!


On a final note, I'd love to hear from all of you regarding the pool and the site this year - Did you enjoy it? Did you read the content? Did you read it some of the time? Did you like the blog better or worse than the mass emails? What could be improved? Let us know here at Idol HQ - we're always looking for ways to encourage more participation and greater enjoyment in the pool.


We'll send the standings out tomorrow night, and we'll get you the pix of the winners' accepting their big winnings, but for the most part, that about does it here at AI HQ! For Debbie, JoJo, and the rest of the American Idol HQ staff, I'd like to thank everyone for their participation in the pool this year! Here's looking forward to the American Idol Pool 2008!

The Master