On the heels of the reveal that Ramiele Malubay has a "racy" pic or two out there, it has come to light that for three years, 24-year-old David Hernandez worked as a stripper at Dick's Cabaret in Glendale, Arizona, where he danced nude and gave lap dances to a mostly male clientele.Might this jeopardize Hernandez's place in the top 16? In previous seasons, Idol execs have avoided establishing hard and fast rules about a contestant's past. (When it was discovered that Frenchie Davis posed topless for a website, she got the boot, but when racy pics of Antonella Barba showed up online, she was allowed to stay.) On Tuesday afternoon, TVGuide.com spoke with Idol executive producer Ken Warwick about the situation:TVGuide.com: Will the revelations about David's stripper past have any impact on whether he stays on the show?Ken Warwick: No, it won't make any difference. The truth is, we're never judgmental about what people do to earn a living. They've got to put food in people's mouths. We'...
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The producers of American Idol will be back on the Fox primetime schedule this fall with a new series that will launch The Search for the Next Great American Band.According to Fox insiders, the new (and tentatively titled) series is American Idol for groups rather than solo performers. The show is expected to be on Fox's new fall schedule to be unveiled on May 16.Like Idol, auditions will be held throughout the country for bands that will compete for a recording contract. After the auditions and the usual scrutiny from a panel of judges (which is not expected to include Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul or Randy Jackson), 10 semi-finalists will perform live in front of a studio audience. Viewers will then vote for the favorites via telephone or text-messaging, with a competitor eliminated each week.Unlike Idol, there will be no age restriction on the performers who enter the competition. The groups will be asked to perform a variety of musical genres during the course of the competition.Fo...
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Apparently having exhausted themselves exhuming Elvis, American Idol bosses Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick have elected not to helm this year's Primetime Emmys. The ceremony's 59th edition will now be exec-produced by Ken Ehrlich, who has 27 Grammycasts and three Emmy shows (including last year's) under his belt. "After we wrapped the enormous effort of 'Idol Gives Back,' we looked at our upcoming slate of projects, including the American Idol finale and the additional shows we will be involved in this summer, and realized that we could not devote the creative energy and time necessary to make the Emmys outstanding for the Academy and Fox," Lythgoe and Warwick said in a statement. In other Idol news, the summer-tour schedule has been released, and the fun starts July 6 in Florida and concludes Sept. 22 in New Hampshah. Details at AmericanIdol.com.
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After last night's two-hour American Idol special fundraising show, "Idol Gives Back," which has already raised $60 million (and counting) for Charity Projects Entertainment Fund (CPEF) and its beneficiaries that provide relief programs for those living in extreme poverty in Africa and America, many people were left inspired, shocked and wanting to know more. Luckily, Idol Executive Producer Ken Warwick has the answers.Everyone's SafeWith the surprising news, announced just before the show ended, that no one would be voted off this week, Warwick said it was a decision based on the "gravity of the situation" and that the contestants didn't know. "Poor Jordin. I had to apologize to her afterwards," he admitted. After next week's performances — where the contestants will be mentored by rocker Bon Jovi — the bottom two will go home on Wednesday's results show, with the voting totals from this week combined with next week's.A Surprise GuestAnother unexpected moment was Celine D...
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Update: To see what Sanjaya told TVGuide.com about his wild style and the thought of possibly quitting, check out the TV Guide News Report.Was Sanjaya a car crash people couldn't turn away from, or was he a deterrent that, now removed, might boost the No. 1 television show's numbers even higher? Whatever the effect the 17-year-old's long-in-the-coming ouster has on ratings, executive producer Ken Warwick isn't fretting. "To be honest with you, and with all due modesty, we're big enough that the ratings don't bother us too much at this stage. We know that were going to be bigger than anybody else," he told TVGuide.com when asked about a Sanjaya-free show perhaps fascinating fewer people. "If they drop considerably, there'd be a reason for us to agonize over them, but the truth of the matter is that on a weekly basis, [Idol aims to] make the most out of all the drama and everything that happens. We honestly don't pay that much attention to [the numbers]." Sorta the same way Sanj' didn...
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