The Daily Whisper
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Another 'Idol' Voting Controversy?
"American Idol" fans have been left to theorize how Chris Daughtry, one of the season's most-talked-about contestants -- and the odds-on favorite to win the competition -- could have been eliminated from the show. Could the answer possibly lie within the show's voting phone lines?
Online message boards are burning up with a groundswell of complaints from "Idol" faithful about voters receiving busy signals and mis-directed calls during the voting period.
The owner of Nancy's Restaurant in east Greensboro, North Carolina, Henry Wicker, tells the Greensboro News-Record that "We've had people in here today who tried to call and kept getting a busy signal. How can you vote if you can't get through? They felt like it wasn't fair."
A family friend, Tracey Adams, tells the Associated Press that some of Daughtry's fans from his hometown were hearing another singer's voice thanking them for their vote, a problem echoed on online message boards and radio stations across the country. MSNBC cites fan feedback received by the news outlet as having pegged the voice as belonging to contestant Katharine McPhee, Daughtry's "bottom two" companion who had emerged from the Tuesday performance show as the odds-on favorite to be eliminated from the competition after forgetting some of her song lyrics.
While "Idol" producers have yet to comment on the voting complaints, some of Daughtry's fans -- having already expressed their desire to quit watching "Idol" over his ousting -- are suggesting that the singer try out for "Rock Star," the Mark Burnett-led summer reality series that helped J. D. Fortune re-ignite the Australian group INXS as their new lead singer.
However, Reality TV Magazine reports that during a recent media conference call, Daughtry -- who has already been offered the opportunity to become the lead singer of the group "Fuel" -- revealed that he had tried out for the first "Rock Star," but that "it didn't go too well, obviously. But no, I didn't make it on that show and I realized then that was because I was supposed to be on this show."
The singer reportedly went on to claim that he has no plans to try out for "Rock Star" again, but will Chris have a second shot at "Idol" glory? Stay tuned!