FANS of hit TV show American Idol have given their backing to a female contestant purportedly shown in some X-rated Internet photos.
They voted to keep her on the show.
Antonella Barba (right), 20, has been the subject of much Internet speculation after pictures surfaced showing a woman lying on her back covered in rose petals, posing in her underwear, sitting on a toilet and performing oral sex on a man.
All the pictures, posted anonymously, are purported to be images of Barba, but none of the subjects of the photos has been positively identified.
MEDIOCRE
Some expected Barba to be voted off because of her mediocre singing and criticism from the judges.
But she was not one of the four sent home at the end of Thursday's show.
Some said that her lack of talent may not be that important at this stage of the show.
The episode was reminiscent of a similar scandal back in 2003, when contestant Frenchie Davis, whose powerhouse vocals dazzled the judges, was dismissed from the show following the discovery that she had posed topless on a porn site.
So far, though, nothing has been said on the show itself about the scandal and Barba has kept mum about the photos.
NO COMMENT
A spokesman for Fox, a unit of Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said the network does 'not comment on the personal lives of our show participants'.
Celebrity judge Simon Cowell and fellow producer Nigel Lythgoe said in separate media interviews this week that Barba's future is entirely up to fans who vote on the contestants.
Appearing at a Playboy mansion party on Wednesday, Cowell said: 'I think it's disgraceful that so-called friends would sell these pictures. It's private property.'
Commented entertainment news blog Bumpshack after the show: 'If a sex tape of Antonella makes the Internet, she could win this competition... now that would be rather humorous.' - Wire services.
She gets Idol votes despite X-rated photos 
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