American Idol

Mezhgan Hussainy confirmed to RadarOnline that she is engaged to American Idol's Simon Cowell.

"Sporting a beautiful sparkling engagement ring, Mezhgan was all smiles as she told RadarOnline.com exclusively that the couple, who are living together, are officially engaged."

The couple met on American Idol years ago. Simon’s publicist Max Clifford said the couple has been dating for about a year.

“They are very suited. She is someone who is independent and says what she thinks and feels, and he likes that. He's probably the happiest I have ever known him in the nine years I've been working with him."

Follow your favorite American Idol season 9 hopeful on Twitter. Click here for a complete list  read more »

Last night, American Idol eliminated four contestants; two from the men's side, and two from the women's side. The truth is they should've eliminated much more than that, but I guess FOX has sponsors to please, so this thing will have to last until May.

It's hard to find any of these cuts shocking when the performers themselves force you to spend the entire episode watching the clock, praying for it all to end.  read more »

I hope Simon Cowell "being too busy" to select the Top 24 properly did not ruin season nine of American idol. Not only does the competition seem weak, I'm over Kara Dioguardi, and dare I say it... I kind of miss Paula Abdul. I'm also tired of all the online polls asking if Ellen DeGeneres is a good judge. She is great. People need to realize Idol is not the kind of show where she is going to be able to crack a joke after each performance. She is doing exactly what she was brought in to do; be Ellen and introduce a new audience to the show. She will make the joke when it prevents itself, like she did with Alex Lambert's (aka Corky) mullet. We just need to give her some time to settle in... Unlike Dioguardi whose time is up.

The producers should've just replaced Paula with DeGeneres and let Kara go. Listening to four judges prattle on about the same performance is boring without a crazy intermission from Abdul. The other judges were always just filler until it was Simon's turn to talk, and with four of them, it just takes longer to hear him speak. At least with the old system you could expect one entertaining outburst from Paula, or at least for her to crown a new contestant the winner each week. Plus the Simon and Paula fights were fun. I miss seeing her attack him one second and dry hump him the next. Kara just seems like the Cousin Oliver nobody wants around. Oh and can Ryan Seacrest please stop trying to force a conflict between Cowell and DeGeneres... It is getting old and they're too smart to take the bait and force it.  read more »

The first week of live American Idol performances nears it's conclusion as the Top 12 Guys take the stage. So far there are no Adam Lambert's, David Cook's, or Kris Allen's, but it's still early, so there's still hope thanks to Andrew Garcia, Casey James, and Alex Lambert's mullet. Also, Tim Urban might have been pretty weak, but the cute boy factor will save him and a few others.

Last year's IDOL WAR champ Mickey weighs in on the Top 12 Men's Performance night after the jump.  read more »

Not only does she have one of the top five white trash names, Crystal Bowersox, she has the worst haircut a white person can have -- dreadlocks -- a kid who looks like he starred in the movie Mac and Me, and teeth that look like she just gargled with piss.

American Idol fans know that the best performers can be sent home after one slip-up for being ugly, fat or black. While subpar performers glide by on dead wives, good looks or handicaps (being blind). So thank god Bowersox decided (or was forced) to get her teeth cleaned!

The women last night were anything but good, making the anticipation to see if Bowersox packed a toothbrush, the highlight of the night. And even though she was only in the middle of the pack performance wise, she stood out as the most memorable performer of the night, for of her turnaround in hygiene.

Congratulations! Maybe you do have a shot at this after all!

Meanwhile the charismatic Haeley Vaughn and last season castoff Lacey Brown look like they will be Idol's first casualties. The best performances of the night went to Siobhan Magnus with Wicked Games, Lilly Scott and Michelle Delamor -- who pulled it off with good looks and a great Alicia Keys imitation.  read more »

Alright ya bums, Mickey's back, and if ya ain't here to play hard, sing hard, and win this sucker, then the Mickster wants nuttin' ta do wit ya. Got it? I got a taste o' the win last year when my team of aces not only crushed the Idol War competition, but dominated the Top 2. I'm scouting the talent this year wit an eye on taking the title two years runnin', and if youse ain't got the same goal in mind, then hit the road!

The Top 12 girls "performed" tonight, and for some o' youse that mean's ya stood on the stage with a microphone and made my flamin' ears bleed! I feel like the crop this year falls into three distinct catergories, and I've ranked youse accordingly.  read more »

Simon Cowell didn't say who he would have changed his mind about, but he did say, if he had more time to pick this season's Top 24 he would have picked differently.

"This was a difficult one because it all happened so quickly," he said. "In hindsight, it would have been much easier if there had been five or six days to really review the performances."

Normally the top 24 is cut down from hundreds weeks after the Hollywood round, but this year it was done in about a week, because Cowell is busy with other projects.

Meanwhile the Top 24 started using Facebook and Twitter for the first time today. There wasn't much activity, but all 24 contestants did manage to make at least one Tweet linking to their Facebook pages.

Complete list of American Idol Top 24 Twitter Accounts.

This morning Idol hopeful Andre W. Garcia led the pack with 6,026 Twitter followers  read more »

After rumors back in January that American Idol hopeful, Michael "Big Mike" Lynche, was kicked off the show for Tweeting early about making the Top 24, Ryan Seacrest announced on his Twitter account, that "contestants will have MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook pages" while on the show.

Click here for a complete list of the Top 24 Idol contestants' Twitter accounts

While it sounds fun to be able to follow Idol contestants on social websites, it does raise the question if it will tip off America about who is more popular... And perhaps who is in the lead to win, or possibly go home. Even before one live show has been aired, contestant Tyler Grady has 450 followers, and Casey James only 127. Does this mean the 70s rocker wannabe has an early advantage?

Contestant Paige Miles -- who got very little airtime -- has only 54 followers, while Crystal "Needs a Toothbrush" Bowersox" has 134, Lacey Brown (she lost out to the annoying Megan Joy last season) has 303 followers and Katie Stevens (grandmother has Alzheimer's) has 276 followers.

We all know strange things can happen on Idol, but allowing the Top 24 to tweet and socialize on Facebook (MySpace really? Does anyone even use it anymore?) should make for an interesting season 9. So Idol fans make sure you show your support (or hate) for this season's Top 24 by following you favorite Idol on Twitter.  read more »

I don't know if Kara DioGuardi actually qualifies as "hot" but American Idol does, and Maxim magazine showed the Idol judge a little love by giving her own pictorial... So what the hell!

Meanwhile... New judge Ellen DeGeneres gave the show a much needed ratings push. Her debut on American Idol pulled the show's biggest audience since the season premiere. About 3 million more than the first night of Hollywood last season. So maybe she should be our Hot Babe of the Day? There is always tomorrow.

Howard Stern confirmed Monday (February 8) that reports claiming American Idol producers were interested in him replacing judge Simon Cowell are true.

"There's not a better job on the planet than judging a f-----g karaoke contest," Stern said on his Sirius radio show. "It might be possible, we'll see."

According to some reports Idol is prepared to match the shock jock's $500 million contract with Sirius XM that expires January of next year.

"A $100 million to judge a karaoke contest? Yeah, I think I would do that show for $100 million," he said. Stern also believes American Idol is nothing without Cowell -- who may have suggested him as his replacement -- but if one person could replace him it would be Stern.

"If I do say so myself, I can't imagine anyone else but me replacing [Cowell]. I mean, how else are they going to make that show work? Who knows how to broadcast and who knows how to be interesting? And who's not afraid to speak their mind?"