American Idol (season 3)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American Idol (Season 3)
Format Interactive reality game show
Created by Simon Fuller
Directed by Bruce Gowers
Starring Ryan Seacrest
Paula Abdul
Simon Cowell
Randy Jackson
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 43
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Nigel Lythgoe
Ken Warwick
Simon Fuller
Running time Varies
Broadcast
Original channel FOX, CTV
Original run January 19, 2004 – May 26, 2004
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The third season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2004 and continued until May 26, 2004. The third season was won by Fantasia Barrino, who defeated Diana DeGarmo by an approximate margin of 2% (1.3 million votes); the vote total (65 million votes) was the highest recorded vote total in the show's history until the May 23, 2007 finale of American Idol 6. This season also featured Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson.

Contents

[edit] Auditions

Auditions were held in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, and Honolulu.

The early part of the season became well-known for the introduction of William Hung, a University of California, Berkeley student, who became popular following his rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs". His performance as well as his attitude facing judge Simon Cowell's criticisms (which was a stark contrast to other contestants' confrontational, angry reactions) made him instantly popular, and landed him a record deal with Koch Records.[1]

During the audition round in Houston, Texas, auditioner Jonathan Rey threw a cup of water at Simon, who moments earlier commented that he was terrible and "there's not a song in the world you could sing." Security quickly escorted Jonathan out, and Houston police questioned him, but released him after Simon decided against pressing assault charges on him. The entire incident was caught on tape and was broadcast.

Hollywood rounds contestant Taryn Southern later appeared on the Project My World series and wrote and performed the 2007 "Hott4Hill" viral video.

[edit] Semi-finals

American Idol Season 3 Winner
Birthname Fantasia Monique Barrino
Years as winner May 26, 2004 - May 25, 2005
Genres Contemporary R&B, Soul
Successor Carrie Underwood
Predecessor Ruben Studdard

This is the first time that two contestants who previously tried out for American Idol (Matthew Metzger and Lisa Leuschner) made it to the top 3 of their semifinals group. Both contestants were eliminated during Hollywood round in the previous season.

Matthew Metzger, a semi-finalist who competed in the Wild Card episode, played the part of Demarest "Duke" Buchanan on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live from August 2004 to May 2006.

Lisa Wilson, a semi-finalist on American Idol, later became Miss Georgia USA 2006.

[edit] Top Twelve

[edit] American Idol 3 Scoreboard

[edit] Semi-final Group 1

Top 3: Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo and Matthew Metzger

Advancing to the Top 12: Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo

[edit] Semi-final Group 2

Top 3: Lisa Leuschner, Camile Velasco and Matthew Rogers

Advancing to the Top 12: Camile Velasco and Matthew Rogers

[edit] Semi-final Group 3

Top 3: LaToya London, Amy Adams and Jon Peter Lewis

Advancing to the Top 12: LaToya London and Amy Adams

[edit] Semi-final Group 4

Top 3: George Huff, Jasmine Trias and John Stevens

Advancing to the Top 12: John Stevens and Jasmine Trias

[edit] Wild Card

Eliminated before the show: Lisa Leuschner, Marque Lynche, Tiara Purifoy and Eric Yoder

Advancing to the Top 12: Jennifer Hudson (Randy's choice), Leah LaBelle (Paula's choice), George Huff (Simon's choice), Jon Peter Lewis (Public vote)

[edit] Top 12 (Soul)

Bottom 3: Leah LaBelle, Jennifer Hudson and Amy Adams

Bottom 2: Leah LaBelle and Jennifer Hudson

Eliminated: Leah LaBelle

[edit] Top 11 (Country)

Bottom 3: Matt Rogers, Camile Velasco and Diana DeGarmo

Bottom 2: Matt Rogers and Camile Velasco

Eliminated: Matt Rogers

[edit] Top 10 (Motown)

Bottom 3: Amy Adams, Jennifer Hudson and LaToya London

Bottom 2: Amy Adams and Jennifer Hudson

Eliminated: Amy Adams

[edit] Top 9 (Elton John)

Bottom 3: Jasmine Trias, Camile Velasco and Diana DeGarmo

Bottom 2: Jasmine Trias and Camile Velasco

Eliminated: Camile Velasco

[edit] Top 8 (Movie Soundtracks)

Top voted: Jennifer Hudson

Bottom 3: Jon Peter Lewis, John Stevens and Diana DeGarmo

Bottom 2: Jon Peter and John Stevens

Eliminated: Jon Peter Lewis

[edit] Top 7 (Barry Manilow)

  • Result show - "Let Freedom Ring" (with Barry Manilow)

Bottom 3: Jennifer Hudson, LaToya London and Fantasia Barrino

Bottom 2: Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia Barrino

Eliminated: Jennifer Hudson

[edit] Top 6 (Gloria Estefan)

  • Result show - Gloria Estefan medley

Bottom 3: John Stevens, Jasmine Trias and George Huff

Bottom 2: John Stevens and George Huff

Eliminated: John Stevens

[edit] Top 5 (Big Band)

Bottom 2: George Huff and Jasmine Trias

Eliminated: George Huff

[edit] Top 4 (Disco)

  • Result show - Donna Summer medley

Bottom 2: Fantasia Barrino and LaToya London

Eliminated: LaToya London

[edit] Top 3 (Idols' Choice, Judges' Choice, Clive's Choice)

Eliminated: Jasmine Trias

[edit] Top 2 (Finale)

Winner: Fantasia Barrino

Runner-Up: Diana DeGarmo

[edit] Finals

After a nationwide vote of more than 65 million votes in total--more than the first two seasons combined--Fantasia Barrino won the "American Idol" title beating out Diana DeGarmo. The third season was also shown in Australia on Network Ten about half a week after episodes were shown in the US.

As a nod to the "Did Clay see the card?" controversy in AI2, Ryan Seacrest was instructed to memorize the winner's name and the vote margin and was given a blank card to hold while reporting the results. However, in a post-show interview with USA Today, Diana DeGarmo admitted that she had figured out that she had not won when the contestants were going over the schedule for the finale and she saw she would be singing "I Believe" (the winner's single) before the results were announced. Realizing that she would not be scheduled to sing a song she would have to sing again minutes later if she were announced as the winner, she correctly deduced that she had lost and Fantasia had won.

At the time of the finale many celebrities voiced their support for Fantasia: Frankie Muniz, Sharon Osbourne, Ray Romano, Amy Yasbeck, Nicole Kidman, Lori Loughlin, Kate Hudson, Andy Richter, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Holly Robinson Peete, Giuliana DePandi, Ben Stiller, Redman (TV Guide), Method Man (TV Guide) Richard Schiff, Kate Hudson (On the Tonight Show), Lea Thompson and Mo'Nique.

Henry Winkler said "You've got incredible judges, Simon speaks the truth, I always agree with him. And Ryan is really good at what he does, but Fantasia," he smiles, "there's something in her that is bigger than anything. We voted for her about 250 times!"

Kelly Clarkson is quoted in the June 14th, 2004 People Magazine as saying she voted for Fantasia: "I just hit redial, redial."

[edit] Elimination Chart

Legend
Did Not Perform Top 32 Wild Card Top 12
Stage: Semi-Finals Wild Card Finals
Week: 2/10 2/17 2/24 3/2 3/9 3/16 3/23 3/30 4/7 4/14 4/20 4/27 5/4 5/11 5/18 5/25
Place Contestant Result
1 Fantasia Barrino Top 12 Btm 2 Btm 2 Winner
2 Diana DeGarmo Top 12 Btm 3 Btm 3 Btm 3 Runner-Up
3 Jasmine Trias Top 12 Btm 2 Btm 3 Btm 2 Elim
4 LaToya London Top 12 Btm 3 Btm 3 Elim
5 George Huff Wild Card Top 12 Btm 2 Elim
6 John Stevens Top 12 Btm 2 Elim
7 Jennifer Hudson Wild Card Top 12 Btm 2 Btm 2 Elim
8 Jon Peter Lewis Wild Card Top 12 Elim
9 Camile Velasco Top 12 Btm 2 Elim
10 Amy Adams Top 12 Btm 3 Elim
11 Matthew Rogers Top 12 Elim
12 Leah LaBelle Wild Card Top 12 Elim
Wild
Card		 Matthew Metzger Wild Card Did Not
Advance
Elizabeth LeTendre Wild Card
Suzy Vulaca Wild Card
Katie Webber Wild Card
Semi-
Final
4		 Heather Piccinni Did Not
Advance
John Preator
Tiara Purifoy
Lisa Wilson
Semi-
Final
3		 Charly Lowry Did Not
Advance
Jonah Moananu
Eric Yoder
Semi-
Final
2		 Marisa Joy Did Not
Advance
Lisa Leuschner
Kara Master
Briana Ramirez-Rial
Jesus Roman
Noel Roman
Semi-
Final
1		 Marque Lynche Did Not
Advance
Ashley Thomas
Erskine Walcott

Paul Anka made an appearance in the Season Finale.

[edit] Releases

[edit] Major releases

[edit] Minor or independent releases

(This list does not include pre-Idol releases)

  • Love, Lipstick and Poetry (Kiira Bivens)
  • Love, Lana (Lana Phillips)
  • Sing Me Home (Lisa Leuschner)
  • Str8up Band (Dina Lopez)
  • I'll Be Seeing You (John Preator)
  • This Is Next Time (Alan Ritchson)
  • Sun Shiney Day (Lisa Wilson)
  • "If I Go Away" / "Man Like Me" (single) (Jon Peter Lewis)
  • Just Like Magic (Donnie Williams)
  • Reality (Lisa Leuschner)

Sources: Idolsmusic.com, CD Baby

[edit] Controversy

Viewers raised many complaints when, during the semifinals Wild Card round, four of the contestants were inexplicably eliminated on the spot without having had the chance to sing and compete first, leaving only eight out of twelve contestants eligible for selection.

Both Jennifer Hudson and LaToya London, part of final twelve, were eliminated, despite high praises from the judges. After Hudson was eliminated; Sir Elton John, who was a guest judge for that season criticized the vote as 'incredibly racist' in a press conference.[2]

The elimination of both Hudson and London relatively early in the competition has been pointed out as a classic demonstration of vote-splitting in the American Idol vote, in which the presence of similar choices reduces the votes for each of the similar choices. Hudson, London and Barrino (who would eventually go on to win the competition) were female, African-American, highly praised singers — all appealing to the same demographic bloc of voters. All three of these previously popular singers ended up in the "bottom three" the night Hudson was eliminated — the three having the lowest individual vote counts.[3]

[edit] Post-Idol career highlights

[edit] References

  1. ^ Go, Jesamyn., He's a loser, baby, MSNBC.com, 2004-02-24, Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  2. ^ Elton John Says 'American Idol' Vote Is 'Racist', Reuters via Yahoo.com, 2004-04-28, Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  3. ^ American Idol voting, Votefair.org, Retrieved on 2007-03-02.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Preceded by
Season 2 (2003)		 American Idol
Season 3 (2004)		 Succeeded by
Season 4 (2005)
v • d • e
American Idol season 3
v • d • e
American Idol
Seasons
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7
Hosts
Judges
Winners
Winner's Singles
Runners-up
Other alumni
Spin-offs
Other