Simon Cowell doesn't smile often, but the American Idol judge has presumably been beaming brighter than the sun since Sanjaya Malakar, the bane of Cowell's sixth season Idol existence, was eliminated on Wednesday night.
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"I was on a very happy plane last night. I miss him probably in the same way I miss my favorite horror movie. And I don't mean that nastily. I like horror movies," Cowell said via satellite during an appearance on Thursday's The Oprah Winfrey Show, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "A very sweet guy. Quite entertaining but a horrible singer. That was the problem."
During Idol's sixth season, Cowell had made little secret of the fact that he wasn't a "fanjaya" and frequently criticized the 17-year-old Federal Way, WA native's vocal ability and outrageous looks. But on Thursday, he also felt the need to reiterate his previous comments that he planned on quitting as a judge of the competition depending on how far Malakar made it.
"If he made it to the top three, I'm gone," Cowell told Oprah during his Oprah interview. "But they wouldn't let me."
So if Malakar wasn't Cowell's cup of tea and he also doesn't have Haley Scarnato's legs to look at anymore, then who is he pulling for out of Idol 6's six remaining finalists: Melinda Doolittle, Blake Lewis, Lakisha Jones, Phil Stacey, Chris Richardson or Jordin Sparks?
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"I have a soft spot for Melinda. Very sweet girl. I like her," explained Cowell. "Jordin was sensational this week. Chris I like because he's contemporary. But I'm a little bit worried about singing through the nose... My Top 3 or Top 2 would be Melinda, Jordin and I'm not writing off Lakisha."
In addition to having to suffer through several-too-many Malakar performances than he would have liked, Cowell said there's another aspect of Idol's sixth season that's been bugging him.
"I'm a little bit frustrated. I haven't had enough, 'Oh my God!' moments. I want to see a few more," he told Oprah, adding he thinks fellow judge Paula Abdul has gone "sensible-ish." He explained, "I love when she talks complete and utter rubbish. We haven't had enough of that the past few weeks."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio