The Terry Fator Award (2009)

The Terry Fator Award for
Best Male Contestant in a Reality Competition

Rank. Character (Show)- Total Points...(My Rank)
10th. Memphis Garrett (Big Brother)- 1 point

9th. Bob Crowley (Survivor)- 4 points

8th. Matt Giraud (American Idol)- 4 points

7th. Nuttin' But Stringz (America's Got Talent)- 8 points

6th. Andrew and Dan (The Amazing Race)- 10 points...(4th)

5th. Coach Wade (Survivor)- 11 points

4th. Randy Bailey (Survivor)- 12 points...(5th)

3rd. Adam Lambert (American Idol)- 13 points...(3rd)

Runner-Up
2nd. Tyson Apostol (Survivor)- 13 points...(2nd)

The Poolie Goes To
1st. Dan Gheesling (Big Brother)- 17 points...(1st)
And now with some words on Dan Gheesling, here is Lar...

___________________________________________

Dan had to battle some really terrible people this season, from a crazy fit senior citizen to a “unique” hair dresser from n'orleans. After he almost got the boot in the second episode (probably should have), he changed his style up to what should be considered almost foolproof. He intentionally did poorly in competitions, which allowed him to stay under the radar for most of the game. As numbers started to dwindle, he made an alliance with a likable fella named Memphis. Calling themselves "the renegades," these two dominated the latter part of the game and it was 97% due to Dan. He hated on other contestants in the confessional, was a convincing liar, and also saved room to make fun of people to their faces. What more can you ask for from a reality competition contestant? And oh yeah, he won the whole thing.

Cue The Idol Finale

I've said it before and I'll say it again...there will never be an American Idol finale that comes close to how good Ruben vs. Clay was. That was a heavyweight bout with both dudes going blow for blow. They had the gigantic choir come in for the final song. And neither of them had to sing a silly song written especially for them, which is always bad.

I don't know how America voted last night, because you never can really tell how people are thinking, but Adam wiped the floor with Kris last night. They sang three songs; one was a favorite that they've already done, one was a pick from Idol creator Simon Fuller, and one was the single co-written by Kara DioGuardi.

Round One
For round one Adam chose Mad World, and he sang it the same as last time. What made it a bit better was that he entered the stage from below and rose up through the floor. I would have preferred Adam to go with Black or White because it had been so long since we had heard it and I think it was his best of the season.

Kris did Ain't No Sunshine, which was a great choice. This was easily his best of the season, and unlike Adam, he could've picked a real stinker and completely screwed himself. He performed it just like he did last time and it was good.

Grades: Adam- A, Kris- A-

Round Two
In round two Fuller chose Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come for Ms. Lambert. He did a heck of a lot with a song that is terrible for Idol. There is no melody, bad chorus, but he killed it with his range and power.

The man upstairs was in an old-school r&b mood I guess, because he picked What's Goin' On by Marvin Gaye for Kris. I thought this was a very boring and bland performance. When he got to the long falsetto part that Marvin breaks out, Kris just sat there doing regular stuff because he would've embarrassed himself if he tried it.

So back during Motown Week Adam went unplugged with just him, a guitar and bongos for Tracks of Our Tears and he killed it. Since then Kris has copied this idea to the t like three times, and it really got old by the time he pulled it out for What's Goin On.

Grades: Adam- A-, Kris- B-

Round Three
Now this was just hilarious. I mean the song was all well and good, but the difference between the two performances was laughable. Adam goes first and does what I thought was an above average job. The song wasn't great but his talent shined through it. Kris then gets up and does it and I literally was laughing out loud. When they're doing different songs you can get away from comparing their talents for what they actually are. After listening to Kris's performance I thought, 'wow either Adam's was unbelievable or Kris's was absolutely horrid.'

Grades: Adam- A-, Kris C-

Idol For Three

For the final three the Idols sang one song picked by the judges and one they picked themselves. I'm gonna go round by round on this one.

Round One (Judges Pick)

Danny Gokey- (Dance Little Sister/Terrence Trent D'Arby) This was a boring song for me. I had never heard it before. It was quick paced, but with nothing going on musically. The Gokes did a fine job but that performance might keep him out of the finale.

Kris Allen- (Apoligize/One Republic) This was a very good performance overall as his lower register sounded really good. His falsetto is really weak and he shouldn't have even attempted it. There were a few times where the original had falsetto and he didn't use. He should've done that the whole time.

Adam Lambert- (One/U2) Ms. Lambert's opening is fantastic as always. He started off real slow with just the piano accompanying him. He killed it. The middle was fine for me as he showed off his talents with some vocal aerobics. He then harnassed it in at the end and finished the song off beautifully.

Round Two (Contestant Pick)

Danny Gokey- (You Are So Beautiful/Joe Cocker) Wow, the falsetto in the middle was a pleasant surprise. After the Dream On disaster a week ago, I didn't think he'd try to go high again. This arrangement he came up with was so good. Definitely one of his best of the season.

Kris Allen- (Heartless/Kanye West) Interesting. Great idea. Take a hip hop song and turn it on its head with an acoustic guitar. Take a song with a dude rapping and a robot microphone and use clever phrasing over the rap and a quality voice instead of the robot man. This was very good for me. If you don't know the original this might not have been as good.

Adam Lambert- (Crying/Aerosmith) He didn't stray from the original very much, he just outdid it. This is exactly the type of thing I see Adam doing, too bad it isn't 1974. Ms. Lambert could be the front man in an awesome 70s rock band. I hope he can do something with his talent in the world today.

This was really hard to choose. I can see this going any which way tomorrow night. Gokey had the worst performance of the night with the TTD song, so I'd be happiest if he were gone.

Idol Rocks

Initial Thoughts
So this was rock week on American Idol. Because Slash was their mentor they had to do crazy hard rock songs? Or is that just what the producers made the contestants choose so that they could eliminate Kris or Danny? Either way this was one of the worst weeks of Idol in a long time. I like all three of the guys left but none of them impressed me tonight. At this point in the competition we should be getting to weeks like; Contestant chooses one, judges choose one. Let them be who they are, don't make Gokes sing Dream On, and force Kris to give Come Together a heavier edge. Oh wait they chose to do those things? Yikes.

The Duets
Danny and Kris- (Renegade/Styx)
Adam and Allison- (Slow Ride/Foghat)
For the first time in Idol finals history, they did duets during performance night. I think it was a nice touch, if only because it was better than them only doing one song each. Because God forbid we get rid of all the warmup videos and get eight full performances in.

I feel Danny and Kris's duet was better. Adam's fantastic work on Slow Ride couldn't make up for how much I wanted to kill myself listening to Allison interrupting him with her one note singing. I completely agreed with what Randy said after Kris and Gokes performed. Their voices sounded so good together. When they sung their own parts Danny was much better.

Eliminate Her
Allison Iraheta- (Cry Baby/Janis Joplin) This may be bias at this point, but I can't stand when she sings anymore. Maybe it's her ridiculously horrible personality or that she only sings one note every time on stage, but she is just the worst. I feel like I'm watching Amanda Overmyer over here. Not to mention that this was a really bad song choice. Cryyyy babyyyyyy, almost made me wanna cry.

Just Not Good Tonight
Kris Allen- (Come Together/The Beatles) So although I like this a bit more than the Gokes' performance, Danny was much better than him during the duet so I'm putting Kris in the three hole. I liked the small changes he made to the song, especially when he almost brought it to a hault a little more than halfway through. Overall though I felt like the song was a bit too big for him, and didn't suit his style.

Danny Gokey- (Dream On/Aerosmith) The slight edge has to do with his duet performance, because this Dream On wasn't getting it done. The middle was good where he was yelling in his growly voice, but the beginning was a bit dreary and off-tone and then we have the end. What a time to break out your falsetto Danny. The Dream On scream is so iconic and ridiculously tough that when Michael Johns did a good job of it last year, it still was a disappointment. The Gokes' falsetto sream was weak and his final note made me cringe a bit.

By Default
Adam Lambert- (Whole Lotta Love/Led Zeppelin) This is both sad and pathetic for me, because I feel this was Adam's least impressive performance to date. He made hardly any changes to the song and the song itself doesn't give one much opporunity to shine. On the positive sign, he sounded just like Robert Plant. But copy cat hasn't been Ms. Lambert's game, and that's what I like so much about him. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Zeppelin fan, but Adam usually improves a song greatly, this wasn't really possible with Whole Lotta Love.

Id'old' Blue Eyes

If the rumors of Simon leaving Idol after this season are true, it will be a very sad day. Listening to the judges is already unbearable, but at least I know there is some enjoyment when Mr. Cowell comments. Can you imagine listening to only Randy, Kara and Paula next year? Wow that would be rough.

Quote of the night- "He's got a little Sylar in him," Pops after watching Ms. Lambert's performance.

Last night was songs from the Rat Pack Era. Which means any song that Old Blue Eyes, Sammy D or Deano ever recorded.

Five--
Allison Iraheta- (Someone to Watch Over Me/Frank Sinatra) This girl needs to work on her diction, because I can't understand a single word she sings. That being said, she deserves to be in the top five, but not any further. This was good, but not great at all. All of the critics love her and I don't know why. Thankfully America doesn't seem to and hopefully she heads home tonight.

Four--
Kris Allen- (The Way You Look Tonight/Frank Sinatra) Again this was good, but nothing special. The beginning was great but I thought it got away from him a little through the second half. He tried to do too much with it and didn't pull it off. Also the falsetto in the middle didn't work for me at all, it was not nearly powerful enough. This was just so much worse than the original that it's hard to say it was a great performance.

Three--
Danny Gokey- (Come Rain or Come Shine/Frank Sinatra) Gokes started a little too slow again. The last third of this was so good that I feel bad not putting him second. His bluesy tone knocked the end of this song out of the park.

Two--
Matt Giraud- (My Funny Valentine/Frank Sinatra) Unlike Danny, Matt's performance held my attention from the first note to the last. I just listened to Sammy's version of this a couple of days ago and Matt's was wayy better. He kept his runs to a minimum in this one and when he brought them out they added a lot to the song. Also his falsetto was on point.

One--
Adam Lambert- (Feeling Good/Sammy Davis Jr.) Every night he does what he does with the utmost professionalism and makes every song his own. I will admit this wasn't one of my favorites of Ms. Lambert's, but it was still miles better than anyone else in the competition. Also his opening to the song was unbelievable.

Disco Idol

Get her off the stage, she's wrecking the show

Lil Rounds- (Chaka Kahn/I'm Every Woman) I don't even have anything to say anymore. If she makes it to the top five it will be embarrassing for everyone involved.

Some ups, some downs...some ups

Matt Giraud- (Bee Gees/Stayin' Alive) I think with this song all of Matt's runs and riffs got a little out of control and hurt his performance. Also his falsetto at the beginning was so weak it might have thrown the whole thing off.

Allison Iraheta- (Donna Summer/Hot Stuff) She finally made serious changes to a song, and it kinda worked for me. Slowing down this song actually made me enjoy it. Except for the part near the end when the backup singers were doing most of the joint, I thought it was good.

Danny Gokey- (Earth, Wind and Fire/September) For the second week in a row Gokes has taken one from the Rickey Smith catalog. Unlike last week's, I enjoyed this one much more than when Rickey did it. There was nothing special about this, but solid overall.

Anoop Desai- (Donna Summer/Dim All the Lights) I don't know the song so I'm going to say that Kutner either chose the perfect song or made some great changes to it. The song worked so well that I have him as my number three this week even though he had a couple vocal hiccups. He again took an old song and made it feel contemporary.

Making a serious push for the finals

Kris Allen- (Donna Summer/She Works Hard For the Money) Wow, the kid is making great moves. With only the bongos and bass behind him, his guitar playing could shine through and it added a lot to his performance. The arrangement changes to the song were fantastic. Kris is giving it his best effort to put his own twist on everything he does. And we all know you can go far in this game doing it that way.

Holding everyone off at more than an arm's length

Adam Lambert- (Yvonne Elliman/If I Can't Have You) I knew it. He is seriously going every other week from upbeat joint to slow-it-down ballad. In a week of disco that I thought maybe he'd have to stray from that, he completely reworked this song. I loved that he made a point before he went on stage to say that he was gonna connect with the song. The judges and audience both love that, and Ms. Lambert can act like he is connecting even if he isn't because as we know he has been on Broadway. Oh and as always his vocals were the best of the night.

Idol at the Movies

I think anyone of these top seven (except for maybe Lil) could have/would have won season three. Tonight everyone was very good (except for Lil).

Yo producers, if you run out of time and have to cut the judges in half for comments, please get rid of Kara. Why did you bring her on? Four is way too many.

So tonight is songs from the movies. Let's see the run down of the top seven.

Go Home

Lil Rounds- (The Rose, The Rose/Bette Midler) So as this started I thought to myself, wow this is finally not boring. But by the end I realized that I had spaced out through half of it, so I guess it was once again a snooze alert. Add to this the fact that she was whining and complaining about the judges and I say she needs to go.

Not Impressed

Kris Allen- (Once, Falling Slowly/Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) I guess it does pay to do songs that the audience knows, because the two that I like the leasts are the two I had never heard of. Kris started a little slow, but just before the halfway mark he really brought me in and I started to enjoy his performance.

Allison Iraheta- (Armageddon, I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing/Aerosmith) Everyone and their brother has done this song so you have knock it out of the park. I don't think she did that. It was good, but not great. She started out pretty different from the original which gets you hooked for the rest of it. This makes it okay that the second half was basically a second rate version.

Top Four Dudes

Matt Giraud- (Don Juan DeMarco, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman/Bryan Adams) Bryan Adams really does nothing with his songs. Both Matt and (will get to later) Kutner made fantastic changes to his songs just by show better vocal talent. Giraud had the vocal riffs going but there were a couple moments where he kinda messed up and it sounded a little off. That's why he's not in my top three tonight.

Danny Gokey- (Endless Love, Endless Love/Lionel Richie and Diana Ross) By far his best of the season. I loved that it was just him and the harp up there. I totally disagree with Simon, he did change the song. The original has way more going on musically, Gokes stripped it down so he could show off the vocal talent that I can now see that he has. Unlike past weeks, he showed some major range in this performance. Sure it doesn't compare to Rickey Smith's version in season two, but what does?

Anoop Desai- (Robin Hood, I Do It For You/Bryan Adams) As I said before, Bryan Adams is easy to outperform and Anoop killed this one. Way better than the original. Dr. Kutner has been resurrected and this was finally two great weeks in a row for Noop Dog Millionaire. He made such great changes in the melody of the song. Awesome.

Adam Lambert- (Easy Rider, Born To Be Wild/Steppenwolf) Unlike Larry Avitamiboblay, the judges, America, Barstool Sports, JJ, and yes I love Ms. Lambert. This was unbelievable! Like he did with Play that Funky Music, Adam took a song that I really dislike and turned it into a masterpiece. It's kind of ridiculous how he has been like clockwork so far, in that he goes with an upbeat joint followed by a slow-down ballad every other week. If he doesn't come out with something slow next week, I'll be shocked.

Years of Idol

Tonight was songs from the year you were born, all '80s with one from '92.

Didn't Enjoy

Scott MacIntyre- (Survivor/The Search Is Over) The dude that looks like Matthew Berry awkwardly posing for this picture just sound so bad to me all the time. Scotty Don't was doing absolutely nothing with the guitar up there and looked even more uncomfortable than usual up there. Please stop voting for him.

Lil Rounds- (Tina Turner/What's Love Got To Do With It) Well Lil's mom let us know that the name is just Lil and it's not short for Lillian or Little. That was much more interesting than the performance, which was again a big time snooze alert.

Kris Allen- (Don Henley/All She Wants To Do Is Dance) What with the new fad of performing within the crowd this season? It's pretty dumb. It also doesn't help that both times it's been done the performer took a step backward. This was boring for me and the changes he made from the original worsened it.

Somewhat Enjoyed

Danny Gokey- (Mickey Gilley/Stand By Me) It was nice to see Danny calm things down in the beginning of the song, but it's when he pumps it up in the second half that I really enjoyed it. He called it the Mickey Gilley version of 1980, but it was nothing like that. It was also nothing like the Quiet Pool #430 Ben E. King version, but he did pretty good overall.

Allison Iraheta- (Bonnie Rait/I Can't Make You Love Me) This is the Allison we've been missing for the past couple of weeks. I might have even liked this performance better than the original. She showed very good vocals and made the song her own without changing the arrangement.

Anoop Desai- (Cindy Lauper/True Colors) Wait I thought Dr. Kutner died the other night...how is he singing now? Noop Dog Millionaire came back to where he should be with a slower joint and showed great control throughout. I liked starting with just the guitar in the background and then picking it up. He doesn't do too much with the song but I really liked him again.

Really Enjoyed

Matt Giraud- (Stevie Wonder/Part Time Lover) This dude's voice talent is amazing. The range he has, and the way he can move around it so cleanly is unbelievable. Because he can do so many different things, he made some vocal changes to this classic Stevie song and I still loved it. If anyone else tries this song, they bomb.

Adam Lambert- (Tears For Fears/Mad World) I can't remember the last time (if ever) that Simon has given a standing ovation, but he did tonight. Ms. Lambert brings it every night and he killed it again. Great part in his opening video when he says, "I just loved playing dress up, not soccer." The difference between this and Anoop's is that when Adam starts it out soft, it still is really good and I hang on every note.