IndiaPost.com - Sanjaya Malakar voted out of 'American Idol'

WASHINGTON: Indian American teenager Sanjaya Malakar, who had managed to survive several rounds in the American Idol talent hunt despite questions being raised about his singing prowess, has finally been eliminated from the show.

At the end of Thursday's round, Malakar-- arguably the most discussed participant in the show-- was the lowest vote getter among the contestants. The Indian American teenager, who had grabbed the media attention more for his whacky hair styles, was teary eyed at the end of the show and told host Ryan Seacrest that he was fine and that the whole thing was an "amazing" experience.

Malakar then came back to sing one more time "Something to Talk About". Hundreds of thousands of his loyal fans stayed with him till the very end much to the annoyance of the show's judges, especially Simon Cowell. Cowell flung venom at Malakar's performance on show saying he was "horrendous".

In spite of a perceived weak voice it was expected in some quarters that Sanjaya would eventually make it to the grand finale in May. Malakar was often the butt of jokes in comedy shows but he also found support from a lot of unlikely quarters. Among his supporters were radio shock jock Howard Stern and the Web site VotefortheWorst.Com, which has long promoted the show's tone-deaf candidates. "He's very handsome.

That's most of it," said Pat Wright, a gospel choir director in Seattle. "He is a teenager, and young girls and guys really like him." Earlier controversy had broken out when some judges claimed that Indian call centre employees were voting overwhelmingly in his favor to make him win. American Idol, one of the hottest shows in America, which gets about 25 million viewers each week, has now six contestants left.