I really dislike the obvious , but hey , who would have "thunk" that Gareth gates didn't win Pop Idol

Daughtry came 5th on AI ( I may be wrong as to his final placing)
and Clay should have won
and Melissa Doolittle went out too soon

well from day one of seeing, what we where allowed to see, IE NO Garrett , or Luke Or Cotten or what ever his name was, , see , no exposure no fan base = bye bye
and is this fair well NO!!
and then we get Bad press , stripper OMG

well erm its a singing show/contest .. its not, its a money making platform for 19 and company


anyway .. I will as normal always stick with my fave from the start, who I think are the best , ( did with Clay, Melissa Doolittle, Daughtry, Ben on X factor and Andy on Xfactor, G4 i could rant on but wont ) so I don't pick a winner
but all my faves have probably done better or as good as the winners

my top two are David H and
Jason C
the rest I don't really connect with, although I like David Cook and Brooke because they are being true to their genre
saying that I cannot Knock any of them vocally , compared to the Xfactor the Standard is ten fold higher

so anyone want to be Brave and champion an outsider.. I do it every year and lose , but they don't lose, talent will win Over hype in the end

Brooke deserves to do really well and Jason Castro


though i am rooting for David C or Michael to win, which means they prob won't!1

I do it every year aswell:

XF2: Chenai
XF3: Nikitta
X4: Alisha

AI5: Melissa
AI6: Alaina/Haley
AI7: Alaina/Danny

but im going for Carly this year

My fave's David C - I can't believe how long his odds are, he's consistently the best performer and seems like a cool guy, he's different too. Funniy enough, I like Cooks this year. Kristy-Lee's really growing on me but I can't see her lasting too long. I like Amanda but she needs to vary it and sing a few more well known (though not overused) songs. I also like Chikezie's voice but he needs more appropriate songs too, starting with a few relevant themes!

My favourite out of the front runners is David A - an obvious choice but he has the talent to back it up. Michael, Ramiele and Brooke drive me mad although I can appreciate Brooke's appeal (sorry, but I don't get the other two). Carly's good but completely lackibg in vocal control, David H can sing but although I think it's irrelevant to his being on Idol, I can't get the image of him stripping out of my head while he's singing and while some girls might disagree that's not a good thing! Jason's OK but I disagreed with all the hype last night, he's different but so's DC and he's much better- had to end by going back to him, lol

I have always liked Michael and Carly but now David C is right up there with them in my estimation. However I do wonder how he will do with some of the themes and hope this does not affect him!

I think Ramielle could be a dark horse as Jasmine Trias was carried throught to the third place in season 3 (My first AI) and I am thinking that the same people who voted for her may follow Ramielle. I think Jasmine does quite well at home.

This is a strong season ( I hated last years as there was so much fodder) but it could also be a year of shocks where we see Jasmine and Diana Degarmo like runner ups!

Growing more and more impressed with David C, really liked what he did this week, and for the first time I really noticed his voice.

me too, more and more!

Well, my top 3 are Syesha, David C and Brooke, and I think they can all be called dark horses in some way.

I definitely think Brooke could be a bit of a dark horse - she has been really very good every week and I think her wholesome image will appeal to many Americans. Personally I can imagine buying a Brooke album, as I find her voice very pleasant to listen to ...

This week DC rocked up a Lionel Richie song, no need to question his versatility

i did Like what he did with Hello, But I feel he should have not used his Guitar in the first Verse , then he should have came in vocally and Rock guitar , to make an impact.. I did like it though just initially the start rock guitar strumming didn't work for me

Love JAson CAstro, David Cook And Brooke White.... Hope they all get far...

Best decision the GBP ever made in one of these shows imo! Will was far more talented.

As for this years AI I think there are a lot of dark horses. Looking at the line up there seem to be very few who are just there to make up the numbers. There's no absolute duffers and any one of them could connect with the American public come the proper live shows. I really hope that it turns out to be a far more interesting season than the last one which had so many people there who just seemed to be canon fodder.

Initially, I was supporting Asia'h and was very confident that she'd make it to the top twelve - still in shock that she isn't there, to be honest.

So now I have to select a new favourite and I'm going to go with Syesha because I've liked her since her (rather over-done) audition.

Kristy, David H and Ramiele all float my boat, too, but Syesha edges ahead of them slightly.

David Cook..Carly Smithson