LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- It's "rubbish" to suggest there was a deliberate effort to tinker with "American Idol" by putting wrong voting information on-screen, a series producer said Wednesday.
Fox's talent contest, which viewers decide by casting phone or text-messaging votes, showed incorrect call-in numbers Tuesday for Mikalah Gordon, Anwar Robinson and Jessica Sierra.
It was the second unsettling incident for "American Idol" in two weeks. Finalist Mario Vazquez quit abruptly and without explanation March 12.
"Why would we contaminate the honesty of one of the top-rated shows in America by fiddling with it?" executive producer Ken Warwick asked Wednesday in a telephone news conference.
"It's regrettable. This was a human error and we had to address it as best we could," Warwick said. An independent contractor was responsible for the on-air display, he said, declining to identify the company.
All the results were tossed out and a new vote was to be conducted after the filmed performances were re-aired Wednesday in an expanded hourlong show. The outcome -- one contestant is voted off each week -- will be announced in a half-hour special 9 p.m. EST Thursday.
Various remedies were considered but the producers decided the fairest outcome would be based on the performances the singers had given, not new ones, Warwick said. The 11 finalists took the error in stride, he said.
Judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul "were as flabbergasted about it as we were," Warwick said.
Conceding that the program has been dogged by accusations of everything from racism to an anti-overweight bias skewing the outcome, Warwick said the contest's honesty has been proven.
He dismissed any possibility of conspiracy in the latest incident, which comes in the fourth season. Web sites were abuzz with speculation, reporters noted.
"It's rubbish. We wouldn't contaminate the success of the show in fiddling with it, and that's the truth," he said. More
I'm a sucker, so I plan on watching the results show tonight at 9pm. You don't have to, it's ok...
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