David Archuleta is the presumptive winner of American Idol.  His eventual victory is assumed by many to be already cemented – no matter what kind of tricks David Cook or Brooke White or Jason Castro pull out of their hats, it will not be enough to combat the tween, saccharine-sweet appeal of The Archuleta.  Unless, that is, an epic scandal erupts.  There have been rumblings throughout the season that David's father, Jeff, has been a behind-the-scenes nuisance on American Idol.  Rumors have abounded for much of the season, but no one has gone on record until now.  Naomi Judd, in an interview on The Today Show, said this when discussing David Archuleta and his time on Star Search, on which Judd was a judge: “His dad is like the worst stage dad."

Here's the story.  According to Judd, Jeff Archuleta constantly attempted to psyche out the contestants during David's Star Search season.  An unnamed CBS executive during Star Search's run said that Jeff Archuleta had to be banned from backstage and that he was further reprimanded after calling one of David's fellow Star Search singers in the middle of the night. 

I have no doubt that Jeff Archuleta is an overbearing stage dad, but to what extent is the question.  Most stage parents are somewhat intolerable, and if the stories written in OK Magazine are true, than Jeff Archuleta is a sick man.  Trying to psyche out the competition?  What a loser.  However, OK Magazine isn't the greatest source in the world, and there are no substantiated reports from American Idol this season of Jeff's poor behavior.  None of the eliminated singers have said anything about David's father, and they've all been asked about it.  Take this with a grain of salt.

I said above that an epic scandal could possibly keep Archuleta from winning American Idol.  This is not that scandal.  Even if Jeff Archuleta pulls a Gilooly on David Cook, David Archuleta will be fine – in fact, if his father is outed as a psychopath, David will only become more sympathetic.  For Archuleta to be truly rocked by a scandal, he needs to be photographed with a prostitute or caught doing crystal meth.  Something like that.  Otherwise, Idol is his competition to lose.  


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: OK Magazine
(Image Courtesy of FOX)