Hawaii is going NUTS with their phones and text messages. Jasmine is one lucky little lady.... 1.2 million residents, 1.3 million votes on Idol.
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Did Hawaii Do In "Idol" London?
by Joal Ryan
May 13, 2004, 12:15 PM PT
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For La Toya London, aloha may well have meant goodbye.
The mainlander was the odd diva out on Wednesday's American Idol, one night after Hawaii residents lit up the phone lines and seemingly helped island native Jasmine Trias, left in tears following shaky performances this week, emerge as one of two top vote-getters in the Fox singing competition.
The ouster of London, generally regarded, by the judges anyway, as the best vocalist among the Idol finalists, was called "a travesty" by panelist Randy Jackson, who must have been really upset because he usually just says "yo, yo, yo" and "dawg."
Fellow judge Simon Cowell quickly seized up Hawaii as a suspect in London's demise. "I think, Jasmine, you have a lot of thank-you letters to write to Hawaii," he said on Wednesday's show.
Indeed, Hawaii residents attempted a record 5 million cellular and landline calls (read: votes) following Tuesday night's Idol, said Kevin Laverty, spokesman for Verizon, the Aloha state's main phone-service provider.
Of those, 1.3 million calls got through--another record, Laverty said.
Per the U.S. Census Bureau, Hawaii's total population, as of 2002, was 1.2 million.
By comparison, Verizon-served New Jersey (population: 8.6 million) got 1.2 million Idol calls completed on Tuesday night, Laverty said.
"They're leveraging their influence," Laverty said of the show's Hawaiian fan base. "If you talk to the people there, it's a phenomenon. People are there watching the TV and voting for the home girl."
Homegirl Trias, 17, was due back in Hawaii on Thursday to film an Idol segment and do a meet-and-greet with Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona, per the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
London, meanwhile, was to do a stopover on On Air with Ryan Seacrest.
Stop worrying about what I'm doing -- focus instead on what you're eating.