Billion Dollar Baby

So everyone seemed to be genuinely shocked when cyber-rage Antonela and Indian Bee-Gee Sanjaya got the chance to stick around for another week after last night's bizarre elimination episode. While the internet has made Antonela a star, the hits seem to directly correlate to her survival on the show. Now, Sanjaya is another case completely. While many feel the Mom faction that have made stars out of Clay Aiken and "Chicken Little" Kevin Covias are behind the Sanjaya bandwagon - I disagree completely.

Sanjaya is of Indian background. While the Indian population in the US is relatively small, it is powerful. They are the reason for almost every Bollywood film release cracking the Top 20 US Box Office week after week. In addition, every paper, magazine and television program that caters to the Indian diaspora is covering the story of Sanjaya from the beginning. What's more bizarre is that American Idol airs in INDIA just one day after it airs in the US. And word has it millions of highly-tech savvy Indians know how and when to vote. India is #1 when it comes to text messaging in the world. They single-handedly awarded their trump Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan as Man Of The Millenium on the BBC poll!

So while many think Sanjaya (present company included) is just completely out of his league, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it all the way (hair and all intact). Given this platform, is it time for American Idol to become World Idol so every contestant may have an equal playing field. Is it even possible when someone is from India or China?