I stopped playing online poker for an hour tonight so I can watch “American Idol” on cable television and that’s a sign how I am such a huge American Idol patron. As a matter of fact, I am often glued to the singing competition show every time it’s on, perhaps five years in the running now.

I just loved how talented these amateur participants are that I often have doubts if ever they are really real contestants and not just been hand-picked by the show’s producer. And especially the early parts of the season, the one’s they held on stadiums, where lots of goofy things happened, and lots of crazies wanting to have their 15 seconds of fame. I had guffaws most especially when these so out-of-sync contestants really thought they were shoo-ins and even spew bitter and stinging words for the judges, most especially at Mr. Cowell. The episodes are so much funnier than any spoof one could ever snatch on TV, really.

But this year, I haven’t got to watched lots of American Idol episodes due perhaps to my busy work schedule as a University teacher. Or perhaps, I just got tired of it. So I watched AI sparingly now. I don’t even know the names of the current season's finalists, unlike in previous years.

But hey, this year’s version of American Idol really has stupendous talents, like now it’s so true, as what Randy Jackson have always been saying every time, that this year (like every year he says), the show has the most talented group of contestants than any other year, and the most tight of competition at that. Like he always says that, and it sounds so patronizing doesn’t it?

So now it’s down to the top 3 and next week would be final night. That’s great excitement for AI lovers. The cute girl with the rocking voice was booted out and it was a misjudgment. But hey, I ain’t got no vote privilege to ever complain, being far from the American coast.

And Chris Daughtry appeared with a new single. To date, he had sold 5 million copies of his debut album and had won a Grammy or two to boot. Probably Chris is the most successful Idol graduate to date. Except perhaps that Carrie Underwood could challenge this status, being so huge now in country music world.

Now I wonder, if this would be such a patent irony. We all know that Chris Daughtry did not win the AI the year he was a participant and was a far fourth actually, losing to Taylor Hicks and Ms. Katherine McPhee.

This must be what we can call the Chris Daughtry Irony. He is the reason why perhaps I could surmise why some contestants probably want to go home early and do a daughtry, having some kind of a sweet revenge, or a stunning comeback, proving all of em wrong.