Every season of American Idol has contestants that no one can understand how they could possibly last that long. Since the majority of the vocal fans see those contestants as not being talented, they must find a reason for why they manage to get the votes week after week to stay. They blame the show, they blame the judges, the blame the contestants, but the fact remains, if they are still there, someone out there is voting for them.

The furor over Sanjaya Malakar this year seems to have reached a fever pitch. At a certain point, it has to make you feel sorry for the kid. He's 17, barely even driving age, still in school, and can't even vote or drink yet. However, his name is on the tip of everyone's tongues, and it's not positive things that are being said. Talk radio host Howard Stern is making fun of him and asking people to vote for him because he thinks it's fun to screw with the show, Sanjaya has become the poster child for a website that encourages people to vote for who they deem the worst (I refuse to mention its name), and there's a woman on a hunger strike until he's voted off, which of course is only going to make people vote for him all the more.

This is the first time it has stretched so far, but it's certainly not the first time a contestant has been lambasted for lasting long into the finals when so many people consider them untalented. There seems to be at least one every year, and no one can understand how they survive week to week, as usually people won't admit to liking the contestant or voting for them, but somehow they survive week to week.

Season 1, American Idol's inaugural season gave us Nikki McKibbin. She was our first rocker girl, way before Gina Glocksen, and you might even say she paved the way. She was jumped on immediately, because she was different, to the point of being a one-time stripper, and when she was outlasting others, no one could understand why people were voting for her. The answer is clear; she was different than the others and not splitting votes. Her young came onstage at one point, and people accused her of using him to get votes. Once she outlasted Tamyra Gray, all hell broke loose, although she couldn't top Justin Guarini and winner Kelly Clarkson, and Nikki came in 3rd place.

Season 2 gave us Carmen Rasmussen, an 18 year old Mormon. Carmen had a very heavy vibrato, and was compared to a goat. Yet, she clearly had fans as she outlasted many others in the competition, including Kimberly Caldwell and Rickey Smith. Her votes weren't enough to topple eventual recording artists, Clay Aiken, Kimberley Locke, Josh Gracin (the Marine who people assumed only lasted because of the fact he was fighting for our country), and winner Ruben Studdard.

Season 3 brought us Jon Stevens, the 16 year old red-headed crooner. The guy couldn't be matched when crooning on old Frank Sinatra or similar, but give him current genres, or even Elton John, and the guy seemed to suffer. Yet, he outlasted future recording artist Jon-Peter Lewis and future Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, as did Jasmine Trias from Hawaii, with an ever-present flower in her hair. People now refer to the phenomenon as the Hawaii factor, and since the state is in a later time zone, assume all her votes were from Hawaii with a longer voting time. Yet, neither could beat eventual Broadway star Diana GeGarmo or winner Fantasia Barrino, soon to be seen in the Color Purple on Broadway.

Season 4 brought us Scott Savol. He was a love him or hate him contestant. Either people loved his voice or couldn't wait to see him kicked off. He was the original inspiration of the website, that I won't mention that encourages people to vote for those they deem the worst. They thought the worst was Scott. He had a great storyline, as his father didn't support him, yet later he was found to have an arrest record for beating up the mother of his own child with a phone. The Ohio native outlasted eye candy Constantine Maroulis, but couldn't top Southern rocker Bo Bice or future Grammy winner Carrie Underwood.

Season 5's first maligned singer was Kevin Covais, aka as Chicken Little. He was a little nerdy, but in a way that endeared him to many. His vocals were questionable to many, yet judge and producer Randy Jackson continued to sing his praises. He didn't even make the final 10, so people thought much more of this than there was. People also jumped on the bandwagon to blast Kellie Pickler when her country bumpkin routine grew thin. But the girl is a major recording artist now, and there's talk of a sitcom, so who's laughing now?

With all this history, we knew we'd get a new person to criticize this year. Sanjaya Malakar seemed to make it too easy to be criticized, though. He was an early emotional favorite after auditioning with his older sister, and while she thought she had it all going on, she found out the judges thought her little brother was better. Yet, they both moved on to Hollywood. When the later cuts were made to final 40, Sanjaya's group made it; his sister's didn't. Instead of celebrating, he ran down to console his her.

Yet, once final 24 started, Sanjaya couldn't get it through his head that his big sister was kicked off for a reason, and continued to take song choice advice from her. He then picked a song because he knew his grandfather than had passed away when he was 5 would enjoy it. Sanjaya wasn't picking songs he knew or that he could sink his teeth into, and he was suffering badly, but people still kept voting for him. 17, with great hair, and an easy smile, it's pretty apparent it's the young girls.

This past week, the guy finally opened up some with his performance of the Kinks' hit You Really Got Me. I wouldn't say it was the best of the night, and certainly wasn't 100% vocally sound, but for the first time, Sanjaya was being himself and having fun. You have to give him that. Yet then, he was further blamed when a little girl appeared in the audience crying during his performance.

Ryan introduced her as Ashley, and Sanjaya ran into the audience to give her a hug and probably the thrill of her life. And that's where the theories started. People figured she must be a plant by the show to get him more sympathy votes. In reality, Ashley was seen crying at a dress rehearsal, and producers knew she'd continue it during the real show, so invited her back purely for the camera ops. That's not Sanjaya's doing, nor did it really have anything to do with his popularity with the voters or a desire to get him more.

Because Ashley was so emotional, some people, having a hard time remembering what being a young teenage girl is all about, thought she must have been there courtesy of Make-A-Wish. Come on, People! Nearly every young girl acts like that seeing her teen idol, American or otherwise. I did it while seeing Shaun Cassidy in concert, and may I note his hair was just as nice as Sanjaya's, but his pants much tighter and his song choices much better. Regardless, 13 year old Ashley is enjoying her 15 minutes of fame.

When the votes came in the following night, Sanjaya was safe, and it was Stephanie Edwards leaving. Here is why. Sanjaya has the young teenage vote rapped up. Older girls, and some women younger and otherwise women, prefer Blake Lewis. It was originally thought that Chris Richardson would be bringing in the women, but after appearing in the bottom two, it seems people aren't looking for a Justin Timberlake lookalike. Stephanie split the female R&B vote with way too many others.

Young teenage girls will spend the entire two hours on the phone making calls and test messaging for their pick Sanjaya. Stephanie didn't have that dedicated of fans, and apparently neither does Chris. Sanjaya is still there because he has dedicated fans and is receiving votes. Peter Noone was right; it's not about singing, but about voting. The word Idol is in the title for a reason.

Which person of the final 10 will be the one we will all idolize? Just like the previous five seasons, Sanjaya will last longer than some people think he should, but in the end run, he mostly likely won't win, as the young teenage vote carries weight, but not that much.

For more on American Idol, see Reality Shack and LauraBelle's Blog

For more information on American Idol and Sanjaya Malakar see SirLinksalot: American Idol and SirLinksalot: Sanjaya Malakar