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• Sanjaya Malakar was the seventh place finalist on the sixth season of the hit television reality series singing competition American Idol.

  Sanjaya Malakar was a contestant of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here on NBC in June of 2009.TV Squad: Sanjaya still around, joins new reality show (April 18, 2009)

  In June of 2009, MTV reported that Malakar and I'm a Celebrity co star Holly Montag were becoming romantically involved.http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1614166/20090617/index.jhtml

• Fast Facts

  1. Full name: Sanjaya Shekar Malakar
  2. Born: September 10, 1989
  3. Hometown: Federal Way, Washington
  4. Hosted the television special Idol Stars: Where Are They Now? on the TV Guide Channel and co-authored the book Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul.

• The Controversy

  Vote for the Worst named Malakar the person to eliminate from American Idol for six weeks. Radio broadcaster Howard Stern also called upon his fans to "to corrupt the No.1 show on television" by voting to keep Malakar on the show. The judges (Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell) only praised one performance of his nine total, and Cowell even stated in an interview that he would quit the show if Malakar won.

• Life After Idol

  After the conclusion of the show, he went out on the American Idols Tour 2007 joined by the top 10 finalists of the season. One of the youngest contestants, his questionable singing ability and teenybopper appeal caused controversy on the show.

  Sanjaya's debut album, entitled Dancing to the Music in My Head, was released on January 20, 2009 and was followed by a memoir called Dancing to the Music in My Head: Memoirs of the People's Idol.

• Quotes

  1. "I sing all the time. I'm kind of constantly rehearsing - whether people around me want me to be or not."
  2. "You're human; you're supposed to make mistakes. Everyone's not supposed to like you; I mean, that's just how life works."
  3. "I do have great hair, I have to admit. Once that became my thing, I just played on it. It was fun."

• American Idol Stats

  1. Season: 6
  2. Placed: 7th
  3. Eliminated: April 18, 2007
  4. Audition city: Seattle, Washington

• Related Mahalo Pages

  American Idol | Simon Cowell | Paula Abdul | Blake Lewis | Brandon Rogers | Haley Scarnato | Lakisha Jones | Chris Richardson | Gina Glocksen | Chris Sligh | Jordin Sparks | Phil Stacey | Melinda Doolittle | Clay Aiken | Ruben Studdard | Fantasia Barrino | Chris Daughtry | Bo Bice | Josh Gracin | Taylor Hicks | Kellie Pickler | Randy Jackson | Ryan Seacrest | William Hung | Jennifer Hudson | Gloria Estefan | Simon Fuller | Stevie Wonder | Constantine Maroulis | Katharine McPhee | Ryan Starr | Justin Guarini | Sanjaya Dancing to the Music In My Head | I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here | Holly Montag

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