ses3225 wrote:
oldguy - I have no problem with the judges using the save on Jessica. At that point in the competition, it was very warranted to use it on her. She should've been top 3, top 4 easy (without the save). I was even shocked that she was voted off that night. I don't think we're questioning the judges' use of the save. The conspiracy theory is that the results that night weren't the actual results, and they (the producers *cough*Nigel*cough*) purposely put Jessica at the bottom of the totem pole because they knew the judges would use the save on her - she's their 'golden girl' this season and they wanted to create a dramatic story for her since she's got nothing else to lean on. I mean she's a normal 16-year-old with a voice. There's not much about her that's unique.

Yup, that's about what I was getting at. Oldguy has a point too, although I think a lot of Reality TV is at least partially manipulated for dramatic effect, so something like that on Idol might not seem as unusual now as it would've been 10 years ago.