American Idol contestant Joey Cook, the best friend of Quentin Alexander who was eliminated during Wednesday night's episode, has weighed-in on his confrontation with judge Harry Connick Jr.
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Connick felt the need to scold Alexander for saying "this whole thing is wack" in reference to the week's bottom two contestants -- which included Cook -- because the judge thought Alexander was taking a shot at the show and its format.
However, Alexander argued he wasn't calling American Idol itself "wack," rather, he was just expressing his feelings about potentially seeing Cook or Rayvon Owen go home when they're two outstanding vocalists.
Cook told Reality TV World on Thursday she appreciated Alexander's little outburst because it was a huge compliment, but she didn't offer up much of an opinion on Connick's strong reaction.
"Nothing is really uncalled for. Emotions are emotions. I think last night was a very real moment on television that everybody got to watch. So, no opinion on it, really, on whether anything was right or wrong or anything like that. I just think it was a very real moment and I liked [Quentin] saying it, personally," Cook, 23, explained to Reality TV World.
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Connick reprimanded Alexander on last night's show by saying, "I don't understand that at all. I mean, Quentin, if it's that wack, them you can always go home. Idol is paying a lot of money to give you this experience, and for you to say that to this hand that is feeding you right now, I think it's highly disrespectful."
Cook said Alexander's statement was a "perfect example" of how emotional he is as a person.
"[Quentin] maybe got a little nervous about what happened, but I just told him, 'I love what you did. You spoke from the heart and I think you reached a lot of people with that and brought light to what us, as contestants, go through during this entire process," Cook told reporters during a Thursday conference call.
"This isn't just a competition and a television show -- this is our lives. We spent every single waking moment together, and then every single week, someone leaves our family."
When all of the drama went down, Cook revealed what was going through her mind as she was sitting onstage next to Owen.
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"I was trying to telepathically send him my good energy and just tell him that everything is going to be fine. I pretty much, yeah, tried to telepathically calm him down... That's my best friend. He and I have been very close throughout this entire competition, starting pretty early on in Hollywood Week. We've really kept each other sane throughout this and kept each other grounded," she said.
Cook told reporters she and Alexander had "very similar motives" in the competition because they were both "unwavering" when presenting whom they truly are as artists.
"[We do] what it takes in the competition but stay ourselves in the process. We really helped each other out a lot with that while I was there, so I am going to be sending all of my good energy to him. I know he's going to do amazing on this, and I just love him dearly. I cannot wait to see him again," she said.
Cook apparently talked to Alexander both during the commercial break following his heated exchange with Connick as well as after last night's Idol episode.
"I pretty much just told him that what he did was beautiful in my opinion. I think that that was the perfect representation of him. Quentin is a very emotional person and he's very all-cards-on-the-table. There's no sugar coating. He doesn't hide his emotion. He's honest. He's a raw human being," Cook explained.
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"So yeah, we talked about it for a long time last night and the separation anxiety that's going to happen. But I think we're both pretty happy about how everything went last night."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski