Mike Hughes on TV

What's it like to have a TV show toy with your emotions?
"It was the pits, man," Anoop Desai said today (Friday). "It's the difference between having all your dreams dashed and seeing them (revived)."
For a moment Thursday, it appeared that Desai was out, failing to make the show's final 12. Then came the switch: There will be 13 this year and he's in.
That came on an emotional day for Desai. Thursday was the first anniversary of the slaying of Eve Carson, a friend who was the student body president at the University of North Carolina; Desai had watched an Internet feed of the memorial service and brought a memento with him onstage. "I carry that in my pocket, just to remind myself," he said.
Desai fits none of the hip-youth stereotypes one might expect from an "American Idol" contestant.
He grew up in Chapel Hill, N.C., where his mom is a biochemist and his dad designs software. He graduated from the University of North Carolina with a double major (political science and American studies). Now he's in grad school studying folklore, which he calls "like cultural anthropology."
There are plenty of cultures for him to study. His dad is from India, his mom from South Africa, "where there's a large Indian community." His own interests are all-American, including basketball, barbecues (he wrote a 60-page thesis on the subject) and rhythm-and-blues, leading to his nickname of "Anoop Dogg."
Then again, none of these last four seem to fit any "Idol" stereotypes. The others are:
-- Jasmine Murray, who surprised judges. They thought Murray, only 17, would stick to light pop, but she let loose with a power ballad. "I thought it was age-appropriate ... It was in a Disney movie," she said. She's used to the spotlight, from competing in beauty pageants and even singing during a Miss American pageant.
-- Matt Giraud, who picked up the name White Chocolate when he sang with a Detroit-area gospel choir. Giraud grew up in Ypsilanti, Mich., where he used to sit down for free and play the piano at the Marriott Hotel. ("I never got any tips; I was just learning.") Now he lives in Kalamazoo, where he graduated from Western Michigan University and sang at piano bars.
-- Megan Joy Corkrey, who has colorful tattoos down one arm. It's a fairy-tale scene, she said, with her as the queen and her 2-year-old son as the prince. It's still a work in progress, after two years.
She has six other tattoos, including her middle name of "Joy," which is informally becoming her last name. "Corkrey is my ex-husband's name and I'm moving away from that."
Her off-center look and personality may conflict with some people's view that her home state of restrictive. "Utah is such a beautiful and friendly place," she said.