We should keep this thread going to find out what has happened to each contestant after the show.

I was watching E! news last night, and they had Vanessa Oliverez, the first finalist to be voted off, in the studio. She was talking with the E! people about how she thought Ruben was going to win the other night, but the other contestants thought Clay might win after the final performance. She thought Ruben was a better choice because she agreed with Simon that Clay was "too Broadway". She went on to say "I wouldn't buy Clay's record."

That girl needs more publicity coaching because everyone knows you're not supposed to slam your fellow contestants on national TV, especially if you want to tour with them the whole summer. As of right now, she hasn't been invited on the summer AI2 concert tour because they only want the top 10 finalists, but she said they might end up putting her in the show. If you really want a career in the entertainment industry, you're supposed to lie your ass off and say that you "loved" everyone and you're all best friends. He he he.

Anyway, Ruben was on The Today Show this morning, and people are still asking him if he felt bad for Clay, etc. They even brought up the fact that one of the major newspapers had a headline saying "CLAY KNEW!", which refers to Clay finding out the results five minutes before it was announced when he saw Ryan's card. Ruben was cool as a cucumber through the whole interview. He said they are going to try and get his album done BEFORE the tour in July. That's quick!

That's my Idol news of the day.

After watching the final on ITV2 last night I'm sort of quite pleased that Ruben won even though I think Clay out sang him.

Don't get me wrong I'm a trough & through Clay fan - this just means for him, he does not have the added pressure of the Idol title and his career might be all the better for it.

Interesting they have released both singles in the same week - I'll be very interested to see who comes off the victor - I have a very strong feeling it will be Clay.

I'm still not sure of Rubens 'Flying without wings' in Simons words - it didn't blow me away!!!!!

LOVE Clays song but then LOVE anything he sings.

Yeah, aje245, I feel the same way about Clay not winning the title. Before the results were announced, I wanted him to win, but now I'm glad he didn't. All the racial comments flying around would have really spoiled it. Also, the American media are a funny group. While the British press love to spend all their time tearing people down, the American press love to spend all their time building someone up to look "perfect". It can ruin their career when these "perfect" people do or say something wrong. That's when the American public love to tear them down...or we could call it the "fall from grace".

Clay is going to be on Larry King Live tonight, and I think you guys actually get that show on Sky. We'll see if he has anything new to say...

Got to agree with these sentiments. I dont think there were any losers, and keep us updated on their record progress Jess and jms.
There's a funsite for Simonisms if you miss him at all :
HERE


Downloaded heaps of Clay songs from Kazaa. It would help if I'd spelt Aiken correctly from the start!

Hi Tally,

You can also go to www.winmx.com and download a bunch of Clay songs from there. There are more songs on that website, but it's busier so the queues are longer.

Clay and Ruben were on CNN's Larry King Live last night, and they were so cute and funny together. Seriously, they need an act with just the two of them. You should have seen the Bolt message boards just moments before Larry King Live aired. There was hate flying left and right all day long, and as soon as the show came on, everyone was full of love! I thought that was the funniest moment of the night. Everyone saw how much these two guys get along and how funny they were, so the healing began between Ruben and Clay fans. Isn't that just hilarious?

Well, now people are watching for Clay and Ruben sightings on the different TV shows that tape in New York. They will be on MTV on Monday and other talk shows throughout the week. It's going to be an American Idol summer here because we have last season's runner-up releasing his full album in a couple of weeks, along with his movie with last season's winner, and then we have Ruben and Clay's singles and the American Idol tour. Should be crazy!

I have a question for the Brits on this board. I remember people saying that Simon wanted Gareth to win Pop Idol. Since Will won, Simon said that he would make Gareth a bigger star. Did it work? Is Gareth more popular than Will? Who has sold more albums?

The American public isn't used to the winner and runner-up both releasing their singles at the same time because last season's winner is still the ONLY contestant from the first season to have released anything at all! Some people seem to be mad that this year's winner, Ruben Studdard, won't get his chance to shine without competing on the charts with the runner-up, Clay Aiken.

How do you feel about that? Do you feel like Will got his chance to shine as the Pop Idol or was it overshadowed by the competition with Gareth?

Sorry jms. Big Brother has just started over here and it's huge, so most people will be watching that. I gather its not that popular in the States?
Will has sold more records than Gareth, but they've both been very successful. It's no secret that Will and Simon dont get on, but Gareth and Will appeal to different groups.
Just after the final, there was a lot of outrage over the way Gareth was being so blatently promoted when Will had won. Even the hosts, who are very popular (not in the Ryan mold at all) joined in the backlash.
But ultimately, I dont think it matters. Gareth has a largely teen fanbase, so it will be interesting to see if his fans last ( I give it about another 2-3 years). Shame, as he's a good singer and has a musical background (expert pianist).
Will is following a much less commercial route, and I rather think the heady days of consecutive No 1's are gone. Rather a more solid, older fanbase, who will buy his albums, not his singles.
That would be me, as I'm a huge fan.

Gareth's follow up singles have done better than Will's, but Will sold more albums

I checked Amazon last night and Clay's single is still number 1. Ruben is at number 4 now. And it still has "This is the Night/One the Wings of Love" listed as the songs. Wonder if they are really switching to Bridge or not.

Tally, Big Brother is not very popular here. But I think a new season started on Thursday so apparently it has enough viewers to continue (or CBS is desperate). Survivor is the most popular reality show. We just finished the sixth season.

Well, Clay and Ruben were on MTV USA today, and it was a total waste of time. They were on TRL for about two minutes, and then they had Clay take Polaroid pictures of Ruben with people hugging him for the rest of the hour. It was really uncool for them to do that to Clay.

Looks like both of their singles are coming out on June 10th because that's what Ruben and Clay said this morning on The Today Show. Ruben performed two of his songs and then he and Clay sang "God Bless the USA" together. I swear, I am so sick of our patriotic songs already! I'm such a bad American, but they played those songs a billion times on American Idol. Clay was interviewed this morning (Ruben was interviewed on Friday) and his answers were fine but he was sitting with his legs in a pretzel in his chair. We call it sitting "Indian-style" in the US, but I don't know what you call it in the UK. I kept thinking, "Why doesn't someone tell him that it's not appropriate to sit like that when you're being interviewed on national TV?" Seriously, I can't believe no one said anything. Both guys need a bit more coaching.

I hear ya on the patriotic songs, jms. It was nice the first time, but everytime after that I had to press the mute button.

I don't have cable and I'm not awake for the morning shows so I haven't seen any interviews!

we just call it legs crossed jms, and we would see it as someone sat less formal and comfortably at ease with themselves and not taking it very seriously so i can see where your coming from

Well, I've sat through three days worth of Ruben and Clay TV appearances. Today Clay actually performed "This is the Night" on Good Morning America and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on Live with Regis and Kelly. Clay's fans go into hysterics whenever his name is called. The guy is completely gracious about it and laughs at it. At least he has a good attitude.

Today there was some negative press on one of the morning shows, The View. Yesterday, they had Ruben on as a guest, and, apparently, today they received nasty emails from some racist Clay fans saying that Ruben and the black host on the show should go back to Africa. They even got emails where some people were so pissed off that they didn't have Clay on the show that they were threatening not to watch again, etc. Nice. Racist America has to show it's ugly head and drag down Clay's name with it. Not cool. Just wait until Clay's single explodes through the roof and what will people say then? All signs point to Clay breaking all records here. I hope Ruben fans don't riot or something.

Hazy4u, if you call sitting with your legs in a pretzel shape "legs crossed" in the UK, then how do you know if someone is actually sitting with their legs crossed (like a woman) or if they are in a pretzel shape?

I feel like I'm posting to myself here, but I'll continue to give you guys the latest news in case you happen to scroll on over here every once in a while.

Clay, Ruben, and last season's runner-up, Justin Guarini, will be on Oprah next Tuesday (in the US, at least). All three of them have CDs coming out on the 10th, but Justin's is a full album.

Clay and Ruben were on Canadian TV on Monday to help promote Canadian Idol, which starts next week. You can see their interviews on this website:

http://www.ctv.ca/generic/WebSpecial...ultimedia.html

Ruben is shooting his first music video in his hometown this Sunday, but I haven't heard anything about Clay's yet. Clay fans are calling, emailing, and writing every radio station and TV show in the US to try and get them to play his music or have him on as a guest. It is hilarious! Since some radio stations still stream live over the internet, people all around the country are calling and emailing them to play his songs. The DJs are totally blown away by this. One of the DJs at a Chicago radio station made a negative comment about Clay earlier this week, and the phone lines were jammed because people all around the country were calling to tell him what an idiot he was. He had this lady from Tennessee on the line saying that she didn't appreciate what he said about Clay. He was like, "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat??? You're calling from Tennessee?"

I finally heard Clay and Ruben's singles on the radio Tuesday. The DJs wanted to see how they sound on the radio so they played "This is the Night" first. But the jerk of a DJ stopped it very early because he said he "couldn't take it anymore." Then they played Ruben. I was shocked because it didn't even sound like him. And I really hate Ruben singing "Flying" anyway. I've really come to like Westlife's version. It was just strange, though. They played Ruben's entire song, but that DJ said he doesn't like either of them on the radio. Then a bunch of people called in saying Clay and Ruben suck. At least the other DJ was defending them.

And I checked Amazon and CLay's single is still number one. Go Clay!

jms, are you watching American Juniors (which is supposed to be our S Club Juniors). This show is great. I can't wait until next week. There are some psycho parents out there!!

Hi NoDoubtJess,

That was uncool of the DJs in your area to diss Ruben and Clay like that. They'll be hating life when those two songs are the top requests everyday! Ha ha ha.

I am watching American Juniors on Tuesdays because there's nothing else on right now! Summer repeat season is upon us. I like that show a lot, and some of those kids can really sing! Did you hear the girl who sang "I Surrender" acapella outside when she was standing in line. Wow. She could've been in the AI2 top 12 easily if she was old enough. I was getting a kick out of the kids because they say some funny stuff. The best was that kid who said "I think being a pop star is stupid, so that's why I want to be a Sea World trainer because I love whales." LOL!

Fame, on the other hand, is junk. I tuned in last week to see if there was anything interesting about it, but I was bored. Joey Fatone is not a good host either. I'd rather watch C-SPAN.

Thanks jms and Jess. Keep posting coz obviously we aren't getting any news now.

Clay No 1 at Amazon and I see they've added Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Have you downloaded Gareth's version of "Flying Without Wings". It might be uncool, but I think its better than Westlife.

Clay is coming to London!!! Clay said he will be going to London to record part of his new album in a radio interview on Friday. It will be sometime this month, but I don't know when or where in London he will be recording.

I heard that Simon Cowell had Kelly Clarkson in England performing somewhere recently, and he said she didn't sound the best. Do you happen to know where she performed? I'm so glad that Simon is back in the UK because I think we've had enough of him. You can have him back!

Listen to this, Clay also said, in the same radio interview on Friday, that record execs told him that he has sold 750,000 copies of his single and Ruben has sold 800,000 copies of his single. The singles don't hit the stores until June 10th, but The New York Times reported that Clay was outselling Ruben 4 to 1 in actual consumer pre-sales (internet). Apparently, the retailers and mass merchants have pre-ordered more of Ruben's single to stock on their shelves, so the record companies are saying that Ruben is beating Clay in sales. Time will tell the truth because there is a company that reports actual cash register sales in record stores every week, and I believe that Clay will beat Ruben.

Apparently Simon's again going to be one of the Judges for Pop Idol 2 which is due to start late August in the UK - in a way I kind of like his cruel put downs!!!!!

Good luck to Clay for his cd release - if only I could get a copy of it here.

Thanks for keeping the UK informed of Idol news - always interested to know what is happening to people and in particular who gets that number one!!!!

And a little K-Lo news - Kimberely Locke was on CMT (Country Music Televison, oh how I miss it in the UK!) top 100 Country Songs. She sang Patsy Cline's Crazy and apparently "stole the show." Good for her, she was also at the Essence awards looking stunning in a Marilyn Monroe-esque white dress.

Holy cow! Clay's best friend came online today and told everyone that Clay will be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine for the July 10th issue. No Ruben, just Clay! That is so huge. I hope it's true, and I think it is because they showed a preview of Clay's photo shoot on the teaser for Oprah's show tomorrow with Clay, Ruben, and Justin. Wow, Clay is going to be a huge star!

Its June 10th record release day - so who charted higher???? (Clay I hope!!!!)

OK, it's official that Clay will be on the cover of RollingStone magazine. It is so amazing that even Oprah was saying that Clay is somewhat of a "rock star" now. Sales reports won't come in until next week (Tuesday, I think) because they need one week to gather cash register sales from all of the retailers. They also have to combine sales with radio airplay stats to determine what charting position Clay and Ruben will be on the Billboard charts next week.

You can go to Oprah's website and watch a brief "After the Show" interview with Clay, Ruben, and Justin. Here's the link, and you need to click on the "After the Show" link:

http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/...20030610.jhtml

Also, here's a link to some of the screen captures that a fan took during the actual Oprah show. The pictures are from Clay's RollingStone magazine photo shoot. Quite a bit different than his geeky look on American Idol. Don't you think?

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...3&gid=2234333&

Oh, I found a better link for you guys so you can watch some of the Clay clips:

http://www.clayaddict.com/clayclips.htm

Right click and save the files so they work better.