Vote for the Worst (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

VoteForTheWorst.com (VFTW) is a website that is devoted to voting for the worst contestants on the Fox Network television series American Idol. Smaller campaigns have also been started on the site for CTV's Canadian Idol, FOX's On the Lot, and NBC's America's Got Talent. The website was started in 2004 during American Idol's third season.

VFTW started at the Survivor Sucks message board and moved to a GeoCities website. During American Idol's fourth season, the site moved to its own domain name. The very first VFTW pick during Season 3 was Jennifer Hudson during the semi-finals (but the site never picked her again as she improved in further weeks). VFTW gained its first bit of notoriety when Scott Savol outlasted Constantine Maroulis in the top 6 of Idol's fourth season and again appeared in the news when underage crooner Kevin Covais made it to the top 11 in season five. The website is also widely credited for the victory of season 5's Taylor Hicks.

Season six of 'American Idol' became a turning point for the website due to its support of candidates Antonella Barba and Sanjaya Malakar. Vote for the Worst was one of the first websites to break the story about Antonella Barba's racy online pictures. The site then made headlines by proving that the raciest pictures that appeared online (involving a Barba lookalike performing a sexual act) were not of Barba. After Barba and Sundance Head were voted out of the competition, Vote for the Worst selected Sanjaya Malakar as their pick. Sanjaya went on to last 6 more weeks in the competition, becoming a cultural phenomenon while gaining momentum along the way with support from celebrities such as Howard Stern. After the ejection of Malakar, VFTW supported Phil Stacey, LaKisha Jones, and Blake Lewis.

VFTW has been mentioned by Access Hollywood, the Associated Press, the BBC, Best Week Ever, Billboard Magazine, Chicago Tribune, CNET, E! News, the Ellen Degeneres Show, Entertainment Weekly, EXTRA, Fortune Magazine, Fox News, the Los Angeles Times Media Life Magazine, MSNBC, Newsweek, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, the Rutgers Observer, The Soup, Time Magazine, TMZ, TV Guide, the Wall Street Journal the Washington Post, and in hundreds of other news sources. The website's founder, Dave Della Terza, called in to The Howard Stern Show on March 20, 2007 to discuss his and Howard's joint effort to encourage the public to vote for Malakar. During the interview, Della Terza debated Eric the Midget, a self described "American Idol expert" and critic of the vote Sanjaya campaign. He also made an appearance in studio with Stern on April 17, 2007, the same day he appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman.

"American Idol" producers rarely acknowledge the site, but Nigel Lythgoe, an executive producer of 'American Idol' did issue a statement, calling Vote for the Worst "a fly buzzing around a cow" and dismissing the site's efforts. Chris Sligh, a season 6 contestant, also gave a shoutout to site creator Dave Della Terza during the top 11 performance show by saying "Hi, Dave." Legal action has been threatened against the website from fans of American Idol, but to date neither FOX nor the series have issued statements regarding any lawsuits.

VFTW-supported contestants

American Idol

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Sundance Head
Antonella Barba
Sanjaya Malakar (VFTW's longest running American Idol pick at 6 weeks)
Phil Stacey
LaKisha Jones
Blake Lewis: Season 6 Runner-Up

Canadian Idol

Season 3

Cher Maendel
Dave Moffatt
Keely Hutton
Jenn Beaupre
Casey LeBlanc ("Corpsey LeBland")
Suzi Rawn
Rex Goudie ("TrainRex"): Season 3 Runner-Up

Season 4

Chris Labelle
Nancy Silverman
Brandon Jones
Chad Doucette
Tyler Lewis
Craig Sharpe: Season 4 Runner-Up

Season 5

Tyler Mullendore
Maud Coussa-Jandl
Naomi-Joy Blackhall
Annika Odegard
Jaydee Bixby (VFTW's longest pick ever at 9 weeks)

On the Lot

Vote for the Worst followed Fox reality show On the Lot, which premiered after part one of the season six finale of American Idol. The site selected Kenny Luby as their pick during the top 21, and its members have been voting for him every week. Members of the site have said the show has an "idiotic voting system" and the show was "haphazardly thrown together." Kenny made the top eight but was eliminated on July 24.

America's Got Talent

Season 2

Boy Shakira

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vote for the Worst". Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions this article may contain.