American Idol: The Crying Girl prefers last season

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Today I spoke with my old friend Miss Ashley Ferl, whose hysterical crying was forever immortalized during Sanjaya’s performance of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” on Season Six ‘American Idol.’

Ferl’s mom, Stacy, called me back before handing the phone to her daughter (now a freshman in high school!), saying I wasn’t the very first to track down the emotive Ashley this year. She had also been interviewed by the TV Guide Channel for a segment called “Idols: Where are they now?”

“I told her that’s how you know you’re a has-been, when you show up on a countdown list,” she said.

I assured her that Ashley Ferl could never be a has-been. “Oh, she’s going to like you,” Mom said.

It will come as no surprise to those familiar with Ferl’s effusive all-Idol-contestant-loving ways that she currently has five favorites among the top 11. “I am rooting for Jason Castro, David Cook, Kristy Lee Cook, Brooke White and David Archuleta,” she said.

She likes Jason Castro because “he’s not outdoing himself like a lot of other people are, and I like his hair”; David Cook because “he’s the cool rocker person this season”; Kristy because “she’s country”; Brooke White because “I love her personality and her attitude and her voice”; and David Archuleta because “who doesn’t like David Archuleta?”

But she did admit she prefers last season. “Why?“ I asked. “There’s no Sanjaya this season!!” she replied.

(Of course!)

But Ferl couldn’t talk for too long. She had a Carrie Underwood/Keith Urban concert to catch tonight in Anaheim. “I’m really excited,” she said. “This will be my fourth time seeing Carrie.”

I asked what she was going to wear. “I made a Carrie shirt,” she said. “It has a whole bunch of pictures and it says ‘Carrie rocks’ and it has stars and on the front and has some of her lyrics on it.”

(Of course again!)

Fans of Ferl can look for her in the audience on April 1st when the top ten perform. Executive producer Ken Warwick hooked her up with the tickets.

Being the crying girl, even last year’s crying girl, still has some benefits.

--Deborah Netburn