Well, that's part of it. Many people are sick and tired of the judges putting through people who aren't very talented, but have a good story. That was certainly true of Pickler last year and that's true of Sanjaya this year. Out of the 100's of 1000's of people that they saw, and the over 100 they put through to Hollywood, there was nobody who was even marginally more talented than Sanjaya?? They LIKE putting through these people who capture the attention of the audience (like kids who want bad attention), because it makes better TV. And for all it's pretense of being a talent contest, it's still a Reality TV show, with all that implies. AI doesn't make money off its singers, it makes money selling advertising for the show, and off the millions of text messages they get weekly from voters.