How American Idol saved lunchtime conversations

Will it be Paris? Or maybe Elliot? I just can’t stand the suspense! It seems that American Idol is the choice topic of conversation during lunchtime at my office. I don’t even watch the show but know all of the contestants and my coworkers opinions on their performances. American Idol is the new Survivor. During the first season of Survivor, at my workplace at the time, the die-hard fans had made a chart of all of the contestants and crossed them off one-by-one as they got voted off the island. But now it seems no one really cares about Survivor - there are just so many underfed, leathery skinned jerks we can watch until we need a change. I question the vote counting on American Idol. They do not show the actual vote counts on the show – so we are just supposed to believe the host when he announces who was voted off the show. Perhaps he has a vendetta against some participants, or other participants are blackmailing him. It’s on live TV, so what he announces is the final word – no changes can be made. If there was an American Idol scandal it would be the “Idolgate” of our times – much more exciting than any political scandal.