Where does your favorite rank?

3/19/2007

Blake Lewis

I m predicting that the guys that have managed to stay put on American Idol so far will be knocked off one by one until it s just Blake Lewis and maybe Chris Sligh with all the ladies. Then Melinda Doolittle will win, of course.

It started with Brandon Rogers last week, and will progress to Sanjaya Malakar hopefully soon.

Entertainment Weekly just released their predictions for the top 12, and gave the contestants odds for victory.

Not surprisingly, Melinda s odds are 2-1. Obviously.

And experts gave Blake Lewis 4-1 odds, which is I think might be a bit generous. While I ll admit that he s refreshingly unique, and could probably go far with his beat-boxing, he s not really all that great a singer.

LaKisha Jones was given 9-2 odds, which might seem low, but we ve gotta remember that America got rid of Mandisa in the number eight slot and Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson at number seven in years past.

Chris Sligh and Stephanie Edwards came in with 7-1 and 8-1 odds, respectively, which doesn t surprise me. Both are great singers, and Chris s humor is going to get him far.

Chris Richardson, Gina Glocksen, and Phil Stacey rounded out the middle of the pack followed by Brandon Rogers. Here s where Entertainment Weekly was wrong. Brandon was given 30-1 odds (the article was written before Brandon was booted, but published afterward ). They ranked him above Jordin Sparks, Sanjaya, and Haley Scarnato.

Jordin definitely needs to be ranked higher at 17 years old, she s amazing, and definitely above Phil and Chris Richardson.

What s funny is the experts gave both Sanjaya and Haley 100,000-1 odds of winning. They said more about Sanjaya s winning smile than his vocals and said that Haley will soon be gone because judge Simon Cowell has branded her with the scarlet F for forgettable.

But America is fickle. They give love to some contestants one week and tire of them the next.

While I don t think EW s list is all that far off, America could rebel and crown Sanjaya as the winner. That s when I stop watching the show.