Vanessa Olivarez: The Uninvited

She was a much needed spark plug of personality during the tension of the Rounds of 8. Simon said lose weight, she showed him her butt. Literally. Little did she know that American Idol would soon show her the back of their collective heads.

Vanessa Olivarez brought her bubbly personality, her plus-sized figure, her unique make-up choices, and her penchant for ‘40s style dresses to the Atlanta auditions like thousands of others. She got through the grueling four-day Hollywood audition process, and landed in the Top 32. Fair and square.

She was lucky enough to compete in (arguably) the weakest of the Rounds of 8 and advanced to the Top 12 in something of a walkover, with Rickey Smith. Meanwhile, her insouciant dismissal of Simon’s weight issue made her somewhat infamous. "I knew I needed to lose a tiny bit of weight, just a tad, but I wasn't offended. It is the business and that is the way the business goes. If I was going to spend $3 million on somebody, I would definitely want them to lose weight as well." she said, good-natured and unflappable as usual.

(Point to Ponder: History will show that the second Round of 8 had an extremely tough bracket. Ruben Studdard, Kimberley Locke, and Clay Aiken, all three current front-runners, competed in this round! Jacob John and Hadas, two highly-touted, but ultimately ignored, potential Wildcards would have surely been Top Ten last year. Simon said exactly that to Hadas after she sang!)

That said, she’s in the Top 12. She didn’t have a stellar performance that first week in front of a live audience, but she certainly deserved the chance to come back. It didn’t help that she was given shtick to do with trained monkey Ryan Seacrest, calling him... a trained monkey. The joke was so unfunny, people didn’t know it was a joke. Alas, she was the first one out. Paula Abdul would later tell Entertainment Tonight she didn‘t believe Vanessa should have been the one to go home that week.

Vanessa kept smiling. She waved goodbye. Apparently, never to be seen by an American Idol audience again!

Then came news that she was posing nude. News so bizarre that it was easy to dismiss. But, that news kept coming. Is she really? Well, not the way one might think. It was an ad campaign for PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) “Be Comfortable In Your Own Skin“ campaign. So, we’re not talking Hustler.

"I am thrilled to be part of the roster," Vanessa told Entertainment Tonight. "I definitely don't have the body that Kim, Pamela or Christy do, but, hopefully, people won't be offended. My butt is bigger, but it is cool."

Then things began to unravel. Word began to trickle to RealityNewsOnline and Foxes On Idol that Vanessa was being ostracized. American Idol yanked her place on the mall tour. She was not going to be on the love songs CD, she was not going on the summer tour with the rest of the Top12, and she wasn’t even invited to the season finale! What happened?

“I don’t know, that’s just what I was told,” Vanessa said. She says “it couldn’t be” the PETA campaign. So what was it? No one, not even Idol, will give her a straight answer. To her credit, she’s moved on. “It was a wonderful experience, I had so much fun. I wish everyone the best. They are stars!”

To date, American Idol has made no statements regarding these allegations. Vanessa does remain on American Idol’s website, idolonfox.com.

Despite the rough treatment, she maintains that she’s still the show’s “number one” fan. Any favorites? "I really hope Ruben wins. His personality is amazing, he is so nice, and listen to him! You would be crazy not to vote for him. He is amazing."

Sting7 can be reached at stingseven@yahoo.com.

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