Then there were 6;
Trias still in the game
A day after "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell praised Jennifer Hudson of Chicago, Ill., for giving rise to a "battle of the divas," the Windy City vocalist was eliminated in the nationally televised singing contest.
CORRECTION
Saturday, May 1, 2003» Verizon Hawaii said problems with connections to its land-line system to the mainland did not block some cellphone users from voting for "American Idol" contestants after the April 21 show. A Page D3 story on April 22 blamed the problem on congestion within Verizon Hawaii's land-line system to the mainland, but a denial by Verizon was inadvertently omitted from the story.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.Last night, Hudson found herself aligned with Fantasia Barrino of High Point, N.C., and LaToya London of Oakland, Calif., in a trio of bottom vote-getters.
Although a final tally was not given, "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest announced that Hudson had lost by the smallest margin of votes in the show's history.
The dismissal came as something of a surprise to "Idol" watchers, given the judges' high praise for Hudson and her fellow cellar dwellers Tuesday night, but it meant that 17-year-old Jasmine Trias of Mililani would survive to see another week of competition.
Hours before the results were announced last night, Access Hollywood promised a surprise outcome.
The site quoted "American Idol" producer Nigel Lithgoe, who said, "I think America is going to shock itself (Wednesday) night and I think they need fair warning that they've got it wrong."
Like Hudson, Trias was lauded by the judging panel Tuesday evening after her soaring rendition of "I'll Never Love This Way Again." The performance hinted at a comeback for the Maryknoll senior, who found herself second from the bottom position two weeks ago, just ahead of Maui's Camile Velasco, who was eliminated.
This week, Trias' chances appeared bolstered by a healthy increase in homegrown support, as Verizon Hawaii recorded 4.3 million land-line attempts to "American Idol" numbers during Tuesday night's voting period, up from 3.8 million last week.
"Overall, I think she had a great performance," commented Trias' vocal coach, William Daquioag yesterday. "The best sign right now is that the judges don't tell her she's 'pitchy' anymore. She's starting to look more confident and I think she's really listening to what she's doing. I think she really redeemed herself and she proved to others that she's still in the game."
Trias' retainment comes as good news for concerned "AI" fans like Allynne Tom and Robert Kekuna, who emailed the Star-Bulletin yesterday after reviewing posts on "American Idol's" message board which described at least two situations in which AT&T Wireless users could not get through to "AI" numbers. After contacting AT&T, they reported being told of a service upgrade in progress, which blocked their ability to get through.
Lissa Guild Eveleth, marketing and public relations manager for AT&T Wireless Hawaii, said yesterday: "After extensive research, both locally and nationally, regarding our system last night, the person who called customer service was told the wrong thing. There was no system upgrade occurring during that time.
"What did happen was the phone trunks that connect our system to Verizon's land-line system to the mainland were congested, and those persons were apparently calling through the voice system. To avoid that happening again, they should use text message, something that we've put in place for 'American Idol.'"
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