Hawaii's Jasmine Trias reacted last night to being ousted from TV's "American Idol," above.
Aloha Jasmine
"Idol" voters end her ride, but
the Mililani teen keeps smiling
Hawaii's outpouring of aloha and phone-in votes for Jasmine Trias failed to lift the Mililani teen to the finale of "American Idol," ending a phenomenal run that consumed the state's attention for weeks.
The Maryknoll School senior received the fewest call-in votes, leaving fellow contestants Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo to square off in next week's two-hour singing showdown.
Trias' loss came despite a massive vote from Hawaii. According to Verizon Hawaii, more than 5.9 million call attempts were made from the islands, with 1.6 million successful connections to "American Idol's" voting numbers.
With her trademark sunny style, the 17-year-old Trias kept smiling even as she learned of her removal from the Fox singing competition.
"I just want to thank all my fans for believing in me and embracing my talent and for making my dreams come true," Trias said. "It's been such an honor to share the aloha spirit with the rest of America."
She also got to toss a coin, deciding that DeGarmo will sing first next week.
"I love you, Jazzy!" DeGarmo and a tearful Barrino said as the threesome shared a group hug.
"I love you too, guys," Trias said, trying not to cry.
Tears were shed at home too.
"I have no idea why, it just came out," Maryknoll senior Kristin Tomita said of her tears as she watched last night's show.
Maryknoll School students Jason Baptiste, Lisa Styring, Monica Kirst and Queena Lau watched Trias with high emotion.
"I'm proud of her. All of Maryknoll's proud of her and we wish her the best in the future. No matter what, she'll make it," said Tomita, who shares a sociology class with Trias.Maryknoll student senate vice president Monica Kirst learned of her schoolmate's fate hours before the tape-delayed show was played in Hawaii. Still, watching it on TV brought tears to her eyes.
"I was so sad," Kirst said. "I was looking around and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, am I the only one crying?' But I saw Kristin kind of teary-eyed. Some of the teachers wanted to cry too."
Kirst and Tomita were among about 20 people -- mainly of students and faculty at Maryknoll -- who watched the program last night in the school's library.
"Aw shucks," said Trias' longtime vocal instructor, William Daquioag, upon learning her fate yesterday. "That's a surprise to me. I was so sure she was going to win this thing. I thought she had the package and the popularity to go all the way. People can look up to her and connect with her personality, that's why I thought she would win."
Logic suggested Trias would get the boot in viewer voting -- she was the weakest of the three singers remaining in the competition Tuesday night.
On Tuesday, Hawaii's Jasmine Trias, right, joined fellow "American Idol" finalists Diana DeGarmo, left, and Fantasia Barrino on stage in Los Angeles. Trias was voted off the show by nationwide viewers last night.
But Trias had popularity on her side as she faced powerhouse Barrino, 19, and perky DeGarmo, 16.Last week, Hawaii was third in the number of votes cast, behind only New York and California, in the 29 states in Verizon's local territory.
After the show, Trias said she "kind of expected" the outcome.
"I kind of knew it was my time to go," she said backstage. "But I'm happy where I'm at. Top three. It's a big accomplishment for me.
"I just want to tell Hawaii, Thank you so much for all your love and support and making my dreams come true. It really means a lot," she said.
Many people in Hawaii feel Trias' exit is just the beginning of a long musical career.
"If anybody will make money from 'American Idol,' this girl will," Daquioag said. "I think she's got a lot of good things ahead of her. She's a role model. She would be a good person to represent the Asian community, especially for the young kids, who will see that they have a chance, too.
"I'm disappointed that she didn't win it, but I'm so proud that she went this far."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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‘Idol’ voters endure
busy signal torture
LOS ANGELES >> The right to vote isn't at issue with "American Idol." It's the fight to vote that counts.
After Fantasia, Diana and Jasmine sang their hearts out Tuesday night, tens of millions of fans seeking to decide the Fox TV talent contest's two finalists rushed to call in votes.
So did reporters from The Associated Press, seeking to explore the fickle, frustrating phone system that has bedeviled the show and fueled conspiracy theories as several of the most talented contestants were axed.
The AP dialed, lightning fast, as the last strains of the chipper "Idol" theme song faded. Too late: The line's busy, chump. Try again. And again. And again ...
In a perfect world, the 24 million or so "Idol" viewers would be able to vote early, often and easily for their favorite. But beleaguered phone systems, trying to slurp up a tsunami of calls with a straw, can't help but choke.
Busy signals met more than 100 calls placed by the AP from Los Angeles and the home states of Fantasia Barrino of High Point, N.C., Diana DeGarmo of Snellville, Ga. and Jasmine Trias of Mililani, Hawaii. A total of four votes were cast.
Trias was voted off last night, leaving Barrino and DeGarmo in next week's finale.
The phone gods were mischievous. The first vote from Raleigh, N.C., for Barrino got through. The next nine calls, made over 90 minutes, didn't.
It wasn't any easier from neutral territory. Anchorage, Alaska, scored a DeGarmo vote on the 12th try.
In Hawaii, 14 attempts from Honolulu were met by busy signals or a recording announcing "all circuits are busy now." On the 15th call, a vote was finally cast for Trias.
Georgia was downright spooky. Using a land line, the second call went through and a vote for DeGarmo was placed. But after hanging up, the phone went dead for 17 minutes. As soon as the dial tone returned, a call to the "Idol" line led to a busy signal and another dead line, this time for four minutes.
It was worse via cell phone. Between 9 and 9:20 p.m. EDT, 79 Georgia calls resulted in busy signals. Three led to loud beeps and a blinking CALL FAILED message.
Phone congestion has been a thorn in the side of "Idol" viewers, especially as excellent singers were tossed in favor of lesser talents. That raised questions about vote manipulation, intentional or otherwise, by overeager viewers.
"It is a flawed system at best," viewer Lawrence Pauley of Huntington, W. Va., commented Tuesday via e-mail. "He who has the fastest finger or the most sophisticated redialing system will cast the most votes."
Hearing repeated busy signals is akin to banging your head against a wall; it can make you nuts, fan or not.
"You've got to be realistic on this, people," urged Kevin Laverty, a spokesman for Verizon. The company funnels its local toll-free "Idol" traffic to the long-distance AT&T network but, when volume surges, can't move all the calls along.
That fact applies whenever a flurry of calls are generated, whether for a TV show, a California earthquake or other major event. (The highest calling day on record for AT&T was Sept. 11, 2001, when it handled nearly 431 million calls.)
If Verizon heedlessly slammed AT&T with excessive calls it could jam the network, Laverty said. He points out that other emergency calls and related services need to be protected in the public interest.
But for true "American Idol" fanatics, there is only an abiding interest in making sure their choice wins. Viewers can vote repeatedly in a two-hour window following the show's conclusion in their time zone. Votes also can be cast through AT&T Wireless text messaging, which has avoided traffic jams.
Fox stands by its plan, and by American know-how, saying it uses the "most sophisticated technology available" and discounts computer-assisted power-dialers.
There is one network concession to the crunch. Fox is doubling the window of voting opportunity, from two to four hours, for next week's May 25-26 finale.
In last year's showdown between finalists Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, viewers had an extra hour to vote -- and that still wasn't enough. Of the 24 million votes cast, according to Fox, Studdard won by 134,000.
But on that same day, Verizon, the nation's largest phone company, received 116 million more calls than average, while SBC reported an increase of 115 million calls, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine.
That indicates a logjam in which millions of potential votes never got through.
Associated Press writers Kristen Wyatt, Michael Felberbaum, Dan Joling and Jaymes Song contributed to this report.
