Ellen DeGeneres isn’t an American Idol judge anymore, but that didn’t keep her from naming the contestants she thinks will make the final three when Nigel Lythgoe visited with her on a segment aired Monday.
Her selections:
* James Durbin — “for sure,” she says;
* Stefano Langone in a bit of a surprise selection; and
* Pia Toscano, who Ellen says has a beautiful voice, but needs to show more personality.
Ellen first asked Nigel to name his final three.
Idol’s executive producer declined, saying that would hardly be fair since he knows the vote totals.
But he did ask for Ellen’s opinions on …
Scotty, who’s “just that (country) niche,” according to Ellen;
Jacob, who Ellen said “could go far” if he listens to the judges’ advice;
Lauren Alains, who Ellen fears will lose votes because girls watching the show tend to vote for guys, not girls.
And Ellen says she thinks Casey is “great.”
When Nigel suggested Casey might have made a mistake picking a Nirvana song in week two of the finals, Ellen rushed to the contestant’s defense.
“You’ve got to give the guy credit for being fearless,” she said. “We’re looking for someone like that. There are so many safe players out there. So many watered-down mainstream performers … He just brings so much more to the stage.”
Here’s the link to the video if you’d like to watch the entire interview.
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2 Comments
im sorry but lauren did not deserve to be in the bottom this week.. she has so much talent and a beautiful singer with so much star quality.. lauren just needs to be more confident and step up and hit a high note if she does that shes sure to win.. part of being a star is not to have fear.. my preiction was always lauren and james..lauren was my favorite from the day one and hopefully she stays and makes it in the top 2.. go lauren!!!
that was a nice thing she did back there