American Idol and Jessica Sanchez Are Overrated in the Philippines

American Idol Season 11 Finale is over but a lot of people here in the Philippines still could not get over. In any channel you watch specially on GMA-7, you will surely find a news related to the show specially about American Idol 11 runner-up Jessica Sanchez who happens to be a half-Filipino.

People all over the country specially celebrities and politicians couldn't stop saying "We love you Jessica!", "You made us proud!", "Mabuhay ka kabayan!", "Rejoice for our Filipino pride!" etc. I get their point, they are overwhelmed by the success of Jessica and that's good. For the first time in the history of American Idol, a half-Filipino made it as a runner-up and there is nothing wrong to rejoice and feel proud for our kabayan.

But I think that the hype that everybody is giving to Jessica Sanchez is already overrated. Just take a look at GMA-7 which once owned the free TV rights for American Idol. They spent for the coverage of the American Idol 11 Finale and sent their own correspondents to L.A. to follow and deliver every details regarding the show and Jessica Sanchez, but they never did those when they still own the broadcast rights for AI.

And take a look at the politicians too, they provided a wide screen free public viewing of the two night finale American Idol just like what they does during a Manny Pacquiao fight. And the people actually fell for the bait perpetrated by the politicians as if they don't realize that American Idol is available on free TV. AI suddenly became the hottest show in the country which never happened during the previous seasons

I have don't have anything against Jessica Sanchez and for all the people who supports her, in fact I'm a fan too and I am proud. But I just think that Filipino's are giving too much hype for all of this. I also thought that Jessica Sanchez making it to the American Idol Finale is overrated. For those who do not know, American Idol is already on it's dying days, ratings and album sales are dropping each season and if the rumors are true, American Idol will only last for three more season including Season 11 which ended recently.

And what's the point in winning a reality talent search which is already in the midst of sunset? AI producers are bragging that a record breaking 132 million votes were casted in the Finally, but every follower of the show knows very well how they are tweaking the results. They couldn't even provide an official tally to show how many among those 132 million votes were for Phillip Phillips and how many for Jessica Sanchez.

And to all those who says they love and support Jessica, how sincere are those people? Remember Jasmine Trias who made it to the Final 3 of American Idol Season 3? She also received this kind of hype that Jessica is getting, but afterwards, her name was forgotten. She even went to Philippines and released an album which produced by Universal Records but it was didn't do quite well in the charts. What happened to those people who said they support Jasmine Trias? How many of them bought her album? The point here is that most Filipinos loves winners, they love to share the glory with a fellow countrymen but after the competition, they tend to have amnesia.