HOLLYWOOD - American Idol fanatics had to wait another day to discover which contestant will be sent packing this week.
For the first time in the four-season history of Fox's top-rated series, American Idol was forced to schedule a revote yesterday after incorrect voting numbers were displayed in the on-screen graphics for three contestants during the performance recap Tuesday. Results of yesterday's vote were to be aired tonight.
Last night's show was expanded from the scheduled 30 minutes to an hour-long show that featured an encore of the 11 contestants' performances from Tuesday with live wraparounds and additional thoughts from the judges.
"It was human error," said Idol executive producer Ken Warwick during a conference call. "We found out [about the problem] as it was on the air. Fox called to say we are getting e-mails saying that the wrong phone numbers were going up."
As soon as the mistake was discovered, Warwick and the other American Idol producers decided they didn't want to be told how many votes were cast Tuesday - or for whom. They opted to have a nationwide revote among Idol viewers.
Warwick said an outside contractor employed the person who made the mistake. He didn't know if the person had been fired or disciplined.
In tonight's half-hour installment of Idol, the show will announce which of the remaining contestants received the lowest number of votes and will be forced off the show. Idol is now the top-rated show, drawing more than 25 million viewers Tuesday.
Viewers who text-messaged their votes Tuesday night were not charged for voting again yesterday.
The American Idol error also led to Fox scrambling to reschedule its new sitcom, Life on a Stick, which was scheduled to premiere yesterday, directly after the Idol results show. Life on a Stick is now scheduled for tonight after the special Idol telecast and will move to its regular Wednesday time slot next week.
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