”American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta, 17, might be the latest tween hearthrob.  But sorry girls, he’s nowhere near ready to date.

    “I just don’t want to deal with that (girlfriend) drama right now,” a giggly, embarrassed Archuleta told reporters on Friday.
    “I just want to be able focus on music. When I feel like I’ve met a girl who has a great personality, and who is someone I can connect with, and who has good standards for themselves and who has respect for themselves, and who cares for others as well…It’s just something I will definitely want to focus on later in life when I’m ready. But I just feel like I’m so young,” he said.
    Archuleta reassured his millions of disappointed young fans that he was okay about losing the title to rocker David Cook.      “I want them to know I am feeling great. David Cook deserves to be the American Idol and he is such a great guy too. My priority was not to win the competition but to do my best.”
    “We both gave it our all (on Tuesday) and we both feel really great about it. I don’t think I could have done anything better,” the former “chosen one” said.
    The shy teen also tried to put to rest stories regarding his father. Archuleta said he had been shielded from the media during the show and found the stories about being bullied or made to cry by his father “weird.”
    “I heard one thing that he refused to give me water. That is the weirdest thing. I am 17. If I want water, I am pretty sure I will just go get it.”
    “He (my father) is a great guy. There isn’t anything that he has done that is bad… my whole family has been a great support. They are the ones that have kept me grounded,” Archuleta said.
   

 The final two haven’t even been announced yet, but outspoken judge Simon Cowell has already made clear who he thinks should be crowned “American Idol” next week.

“Probably David Cook,” Cowell told Blender.com in an interview when asked who he thought most deserved to win.

 ”I think he’s done more to deserve it over the eleven weeks. He’s taken more risks, he’s done things with certain songs that have been more interesting. If I’m gonna base it on who has done the best performances over the live shows, David Cook deserves to win,” Cowell said.

For most Idol fans,  it’s been a foregone conclusion for weeks that the two Davids — rocker Cook and baby-faced Archuleta — would meet in the final showdown on May 20.

But the winner will be chosen not by the three judges, but by the 25 million or so viewers of the show. What will you base your decision on? Talent, good looks, likeability, or most deserving?

 Kristy Lee Cook may have lost her beloved horse in her attempt to become the “American Idol” but she left the show this week with a marriage proposal.

 Cook,  24, who won hearts by selling her horse to get to the “Idol” auditions last summer,  said her long time boyfriend popped the question on Wednesday night’s TV show when she was voted off the competition.

Cook told reporters after her exit that boyfriend Andy first proposed on March 15 — in the privacy of the sauna at the LA house where the Idols all live during the show!

He followed it up with a second more public declaration on April 16 elimination night. “It was really cool. He re-enacted the proposal and actually got down on one knee because the first time he didn’t. He owed it to me,” Cook said, with a laugh.

The pair are thinking of a June 2009 wedding but haven’t set a date yet.

As for her horse, Cook seemed reconciled to not getting him back. The new owner doesn’t want to sell him back “but he got a really good home so I’m happy with that,” she said.

With a slicker format,  more stars and better jokes , “Idol Gives Back” showed just how to stage a mass charity fundraiser on its second outing on Wednesday. 

 Jimmy Kimmel’s roasting of Simon Cowell’s nipples (!!), his haircut (”Who parted your hair? Moses?”) and wardrobe;  Annie Lennox’s emotional rendering of “Many Rivers To Cross”, and Fergie’s  handstands across the stage made it a night to remember. Then there was the “Idol” stage manager who, when she had to come onstage to adjust Brad Pitt’s microphone, admitted: “I just needed a reason to touch him.”

Even Britney Spears — one of the few celebrities not among the more than 60 singers, actors, sports stars and comedians taking part — was reportedly moved to donate.

Life & Style magazine said the troubled pop star — who thankfully has been out of the headlines for at least two weeks — made a $25,000 donation.  “She watched the show and cried for like two hours over the children in Africa with malaria,” a Spears family insider told the magazine.

But just how much did the American public fork over in pledges and donations to the six featured children’s charities in Africa and the United States? Host Ryan Seacrest gave an early preliminary figure of $18 million during the broadcast.

Here’s hoping it won’t be too long before we get to know if the show reached it’s hoped for $100 million target.

       He hardly fits the bill as an American Idol, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown won fans for an extraordinary pledge to buy 20 million anti-malarial nets for use in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

Brown made the commitment in a video-taped appearance on Wednesday’s “American Idol” charity TV special “Idol Gives Back” which brings celebrities, charities and viewers together in a bid to raise tens of millions of dollars for children’s charities in Africa and the United States.

Oil company Exxon Mobil, one of the “Idol” corporate sponsors, separately announced a $10 million donation to the fund raiser to be spent on anti-malarial efforts in Africa.

Brown’s pledge on behalf of the British government represents about one-sixth of the 120 million life-saving mosquito nets that experts says are needed to protect every child and family around the world from contracting the disease.

Malaria No More, one of six charities that will benefit from “Idol Gives Back” fundraiser, said it hoped Brown’s announcement would spur other world leaders to take similar action.

 ”This generous pledge will ensure that millions of African parents can protect their children from the deadly disease,” said Peter Chernin, chairman of Malaria No More.

 Organizers hope Wednesday’s fundraiser will bring $100 million this year in donations from viewers of the U.S. singing talent show.  Last year’s inaugural event raise $76 million.

“American Idol” is  the most watched TV show in the United States with about 27 million viewers a week and is also broadcast in a taped version in about 100 countries overseas.

Tween sensation Miley Cyrus sang up a storm on the “American Idol” charity special “Idol Gives Back” but it turns out the Disney star is no fan of the most popular TV show (apart from her own) in America.

Cyrus, 15,  aka “Hannah Montana”,  performed two songs live at the Hollywood taping of the fundraiser at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre on Sunday and recorded a mini segment highlighting the plight of impoverished kids in Kentucky, where her dad Billy Ray Cyrus was born and raised.

But asked backstage whether she was an “American Idol” fan, Cyrus chirped; “The funniest part is that I am so excited to be here but I have never seen it. Never seen even an episode.”

“I think it’s something you have to really get into,” she explained, adding that she has been pretty busy over the last couple of years — what with her own TV show, album, tour, apearance as an Oscar presenter etc.

C’mon Miley! Even bad boy rapper Snoop Dogg, who also appeared on the show to broadcast Wednesday,  said he watches AI  from time to time.

Seems Lindsay Lohan’s showbiz mom, Dina, is having some last minute second thoughts about putting her second daughter Ali, 14, into the limelight.
    Ali and Dina are starring in an upcoming E! reality show that will chronicle Dina’s efforts to put her younger daughter on the path to fame (or should that be shame?) enjoyed by big sister Lindsay.
    “It’s scary because I did it with Lindsay and got her to the level of success that she is at and with the tabloids…so with Ali now it’s scary…they are already making things up about her,” Dina Lohan told Access Hollywood  in an interview.
    Ali’s big Hollywood debut comes a year after Lindsay Lohan made headlines for all the wrong reasons — she wrecked her car, served time in jail for drunk driving and cocaine possession, and had two stints in rehab.
    Lindsay, who shot to fame at age 11, was also attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings before the age of 21 — the legal age for drinking in the United States.
    You have to wonder why Dina didn’t think twice before signing that reality show contract.

Judges’ favorite Carly Smithson made a surprise drop into the “American Idol” bottom three on Wednesday,  but the real shock of the evening came when grumpy judge Simon Cowell handed out a rare compliment to Paula Abdul — for her kissing technique!

 In the viewers questions and answers segment that is new to this year’s show, the blunt Brit was asked if there were any plans for a sequel to the hilarious kissing skit that he and Abdul performed at the end of Season 2 that had been marked by constant  fighting between the two polar opposites.

“Yes”, replied Cowell to a startled Abdul, who has been as much at the sharp end of Cowell’s tongue and rolling eyes as some of the hapless contestants. ”And I’ll tell you why. You’re actually a very good kisser!” Abdul was so stunned she didn’t have time to respond.

Smithson, the Irish girl who has already had one shot at music stardom with a record deal that flopped spectacularly in 2001, managed to cling on for another day by making it into the Idol Top 10   while rocker Amanda Overmyer was booted out. Cowell has already been comparing Smithson, 24,  to Kelly Clarkson, the first and most successful winner of the hit TV talent show.

But with “Idol” now in its 7th season, you sometimes get to wonder if the biggest stars of the show aren’t the three judges with their bickering and their vastly different personalities,  rather than the performers.

Gone, but far from forgotten, Danny Noriega’s exit from American Idol on Thursday left fans of the flamboyant 18 -year-old  weeping and buzzing with indignation over the reasons behind his failure to make the final 12.

Supporters  of the cheeky Noriega,  who dub themselves “Danimals”,  organized a petition on the American Idol message board demanding his return while others speculated darkly that the California teen  may have been the victim of homophobia.

A much-circulated YouTube Christmas video, in which a heavily eye-linered Noriega hoped Santa Claus carried out unseemly acts on mothers, was also thought to have turned off many  of the talent show’s  28 million plus viewers.

One contributor to the American Idol message boards on Friday summed it up like this;  “In the end Danny was too feminine and ‘dainty’ acting and had a lousy attitude. Then you have the stupid childish BLEEP video, along with his mocking of Simon.”

Like Sanjaya Malakar last year, Noriega may turn out to be most talked about contestant who never actually became America’s idol.

“American Idol” also delivered its most vicious blow to three other wide-eyed young performers, denying them access to a coveted spot among the singing competition’s Top 12 contestants of its seventh season.

Along with Noriega, sent packing last night were Asia’h Epperson, a 19-year-old who judge Simon Cowell dubbed a “second-rate Whitney Houston”, Kady Malloy, 18, whose Britney Spears impressions were more memorable than her performances and Luke Menard, a hunky but boring 29-year-old whose rendition of Wham’s “Wake me Up Before You Go Go” was called “corny” by judge Randy Jackson.

Elimination this week means not only will they never achieve “American Idol” status, it also means they won’t get to perform at the show’s finale and are denied a spot on its popular summer concert tour. In other words, they now join the ranks of Sundance Head, Sabrina Sloan, and other “Idol” also-rans who missed the Top 12 by the skin of their teeth.

What, you say? Sundance who? Sabrina what?

Exactly.

Ever wonder what all those stars wear under those slinky Oscar gowns? We at Reuters admit we haven’t done the requisite in-depth investigative reporting this story merits, but we think we may have found the answer — strapless, G-string underwear.
    
You heard it here first. Strapless, G-string underwear that covers all your little bits but won’t give you unsightly lines at the hips. Even better, they are reusable, so you can wear them on Academy Awards red carpets in years to come.
    
Designer Jenny Buettner of Shibue Couture says she designed the item out of frustration. Hesitant to “go commando” — a style that Britney Spears appears to favor — she wanted to cover up without lines, but found that other products left bulges, were uncomfortable or weren’t sexy enough.
    
Speaking of sexy, one model of the strapless G-string comes in black with gold studs — wait, won’t studs show through tight fabric? — while another features demure little hearts.
    
Each comes with adhesive strips that mold to something — though we don’t want to think too much about it. 
    
Another bonus: besides being ideal for clingy dresses, the strapless G-string is perfect for pole dancing, according to the Web site.
Written By Alexandria Sage