American Idol’: Vote wasn’t even close

LOS ANGELES – The “American Idol” finale is under way in Los Angeles with a startling revelation: the contest between David Archuleta and David Cook wasn’t even close.

With a record 97.5 million audience votes cast by phone and text, the split between the two contestants was 56 percent for one David and 44 percent for the other, host Ryan Seacrest announced at the start of the show.

Seacrest, of course, left in question who got the lion’s share; that detail wouldn’t come until the closing moments of the two-hour live broadcast.

In the meantime, viewers got songs from runners-up including Syesha Mercado, who dueted with Seal on his song “Waiting for You,” and a solo on “Hallelujah” by dreadlocked Jason Castro.

~ by aylahbzshu26 on May 22, 2008.