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I can understand a lot of your points, Wolfstar. I know what "Jon Benet" look you are talking about, but she really did much to change that later on.

She started to look more "herself" I thought. I still was always pulling for her though because I think she's got lots of potential where it seems to me that Bo is set in his ways more or less.

But Bo seems like a really nice guy and I hope he does well.

I was thrilled to see what you thought about Anthony. I thought Anthony had HUGE potential and I also felt that Simon screwed him over.

Hopefully we will see much from lots of these guys. It'll be fun to watch their careers.

I was thrilled to see what you thought about Anthony.

Anthony is a remarkable talent, in my opinion. He was the youngest and most inexperienced contestant, and it showed. But he certainly didn't deserve all the constant harsh criticism from Simon. With the right guidance and management Anthony could have an outstanding career.

I don't know if you've watched the show all four seasons, but I have. The amount of manipulation the producers and at least one judge, Simon, pull is amazing. They have ALWAYS reserved the right to select the AI in the end if they don't like the person the public votes in.

For example, suppose the "vote for the worst" crowd had managed to get Scott to the top and he won the AI voting. The producers have always reserved the right to say nope, we choose X. They know that would be a public relations nightmare, so they avoid ever being in that position by manipulating things like the sound system, theme nights, and probably even the song lists the contestants get to choose from.

Most of all, they manipulate the mostly young voting audience with the judges' comments. When Simon tagged Anthony as a kind of weaker Clay Aiken, that pretty much killed any chance the kid had. Heck, when Simon tagged Clay as being suitable "only" for Broadway, that hurt Clay's chances. The judges' comments are parrotted over and over and over and over again by the kids who populate the AI message boards -- and I'm sure in schoolyards all over the country.

With all due respect to Carrie, it was no accident that the two songs they chose suited her style and not Bo's. It certainly was no accident that, in his final comments Tuesday night, Simon made a point of reminding the audience that Carrie was younger than Bo and supposedly less experienced (not true; she didn't come right off the farm onto AI), and that "she had done enough to win."

Conspiracy? No, of course not. It's hard-nosed business. They aren't going to blow a million-dollar contract on a commodity they don't believe has commercial value. They are looking for the relatively quick return on their investment from the winner and anyone else they sign. They market the winner while the demand is hot, then it's on to the next season.

Kelly said she followed Clay's lead and signed with another agency earlier this year because, when it came time for her to do her 2nd album, the AI record producers were not supportive and she even had trouble getting them on the phone.