Kris Allen saw off stiff competition from favorite Adam Lambert to be crowned American Idol champ Wednesday night.
A record-breaking 100 million votes determined the 23-year-old Conway, Arkansas native as the Season 8 winner.
“Adam deserves this,” Kris told the Idol audience. “I’m sorry, I don’t even know what to feel right now. This is crazy!”
Allen wasn’t considered a frontrunner going into the finale. Judge Simon Cowell declared his support for 27-year-old Lambert, saying on Tuesday’s show, “The whole idea about doing a show like this is that you hope you can find a worldwide star — I genuinely believe with all my heart that we have found that with you.”
The turning point in the competition for Kris was arguably his performance of Kanye West’s Heartless.
“I had literally written you out of this competition,” Cowell said then. “That, however, has all changed after that performance.”
Carlos Santana, Cindy Lauper, Queen Latifah, Lionel Richie and the Black Eyed Peas were among the performers at the finale.
Backstage, just moments after he was declared the winner, Kris told Hollyscoop how he feels his personal life will change after his victory.
“I think that hopefully me and my wife will get some more time together, not being in Arkansas as much as I was,” he said.
“I’m just happy that I have a music career,” said Kris. “Since I was 13 years old, I knew this is what I wanted to do,” he added.
“I feel like I’m ready [for stardom]. American Idol boot camp got me ready.”
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