Nigel Lythgoe on Carly Smithson Controversy: "Most people who vote don't read the blogs and boards!"

American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe had his weekly conference call with reporters and here's what Rodney Ho from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported (via Idolator):

Nigel also incorrectly insisted that "Idol" had revealed Carly Smithson's past with MCA Records. He was wrong. But he got rather testy when a reporter challenged him on it. The show did reveal her past visa problems so he might have simply forgotten. He said he wasn't hiding people's pasts at all, though "Idol" has conveniently left out record contract deals. Did they mention Joanne (Borgella)'s win on Monique's Fat Chance or David Archuleta's "Star Search" win? I can't recall myself.

He also downplayed the potential backlash Carly Smithson is getting on the blogs for her failed time at MCA, saying that most people who vote don't read the blogs and boards. And since "Idol" isn't saying anything on air about it, indeed, it probably won't matter. He did get quite testy over this line of questioning. Credit the wonderful Star Ledger writer Alan Sepinwall. I emailed Sepinwall and he merely wanted to know (before he got cut off) if they were going to mention their past recording contracts sometime in the future.

This is of special interest to me since searches for Carly Smithson on Google and Comcast account for nearly half of all the traffic I got yesterday on rickey.org. It's kinda good to know that the producers of American Idol are unaware that the Internet exists. (I love Carly Smithson! -- controversy breeds Web traffic!)

Carly Smithson under the name Carly Hennessy was signed by Vivendi Universal's MCA Records when she was 18. She worked on an album for 2 years and the record company spent $2.2 million to produce and market it. If you can't put your brain around it -- this is pretty much the same type of contract the winner of American Idol 7 will get! She made a video for her single "I Wanna Blow Your Mind", and another track -- "Just Missed the Train" -- was also recorded by Kelly Clarkson. Carly Smithson's debut album "Ultimate High" flopped -- it sold only 378 copies on its initial run for a total of $4,900. (From the Wall Street Journal)

Good news! Carly Smithson's debut album is available now!
Carly Smithson -- Ultimate HighImage: (on Amazon)
Carly Smithson -- Ultimate High (on iTunes)
I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind (on iTunes)