I wonder who Ryan is hoping to impress.  I guess he could be learning to make some food for himself but part of me hopes this means he’s leaving his bachelor lifestyle behind and is getting ready to settle down.  He’s good friends with Simon Cowell, though, so if he uses him as an example, Ryan will be single forever!

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Among the other invitees were celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, former supermodel, Naomi Campbell, and Simon’s own mother, Julie Cowell, who looked very, very elegant for the occasion.

Here are some pictures that I found!

Images: INF

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Before we get into the goodies, I thought I’d put up a quick poll to find out how you guys are feeling about this sudden change to the judges’ table.  If none of these answers works for you, please feel free to leave me a comment!

Here’s a fun moment from Season 7 when poor Paula was flustered because she got confused after a change was made to the judging process.  I thought it was an understandable mistake but you know how these things get blown out of proportion.

A hopeful gets a little too friendly with Paula Abdul during an audition and sings her a song about stalking and caulking her until security takes him away.  He’s super intense and I have to admit that even I was creeped out and I was in the safety of my own home!

Simon and Paula created this great video and indulged all of the viewers who thought that the pair were either dating, or should get together.  I couldn’t believe that they actually went through with it.  There was a little surprise from Randy at the end.

Paula debuted the music video for her single “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” on American Idol and the crowd seemed to really like it.  Randy is in the video with her and, at the end, a picture of Ryan, Paula and Randy was shown and I thought it was pretty cute!

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President/CEO of Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities, Linda M. Morris seems very optimistic about the gala: “We are grateful for the generosity and ongoing support of The Coca-Cola Company. And we are thrilled Coca-Cola’s longtime ambassador, Ryan Seacrest, will host the evening. Despite a tough economy, we expect this inaugural event will be successful in raising funds to support families in need at our two local Ronald McDonald Houses.

This year marks our 30^th anniversary and this new event is a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness for Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities and the organization’s important work throughout the area.” 

The Ronald McDonald House is such a worthy charity so I hope that they get a lot of donations and can continue to be so helpful and supportive to the families who have sick children (they provide accommodation for families who must travel in order to get medical help for their seriously ill or injured children).

image: Business Wire

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Talk about a raise – this more than triples his previous salary where he was earning less than $5 million per season. 

Of course, this doesn’t even include the money he makes on E! Entertainment and as the producer of shows like Keeping Up the Kardashians and his upcoming project with chef, Jamie Oliver.

I know that some people don’t like him but I think that Ryan is worth securing until the show finally goes off the air.   

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Craig Blankenhorn/FOX

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The Hollywood Reporter claims that he will get a raise from his $5 million pay check he got last season (it’s about $100,000 per episode).

I think that Ryan does a great job on Idol so this news doesn’t bother me *too* much.  I think it’s hard to keep a live show running smoothly and he’s a really big part of that.

Seacrest, who has produced unscripted shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated and the now-cancelled, Momma’s Boys, is also supposedly in talks to expand his role within 19 Entertainment and could create a series with Idol creator, Simon Fuller.  I’d be interested in seeing what they come up with!

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Craig Blankenhorn/FOX

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She performed “Best Days Of Your Life” and was nominated for Female Video of the Year and Video of the Year for “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” but ended up losing both times to her close friend, Taylor Swift, for her hugely popular “Love Story.”

Watch Kellie’s performance below. I think that she’s definitely gotten better at singing this song live but she still had a few shaky moments. Overall, it was pretty good for an awards show appearances since I’m sure it’s pretty scary to sing in front of all those other country stars!

Kellie also presented the “Breakthrough Video of the Year” award with fellow American Idol personality, Randy Jackson.  I know that I said Kellie looked good but Randy looked pretty great too!  Their dialogue was a bit silly, though.

The prize ended up going to the Zac Brown Band for their hit “Chicken Fried.” 

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American Idol host, Ryan Seacrest, was spotted at the hotspot with his Megan Fox-lookalike date.  I find this an odd pairing (at least in these photos) especially because their outfits don’t seem to match (he looks so casual).  However, if his pants are any indication, he finds his new girlfriend attractive enough…

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Of course, there were the finalists, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, along with the rest of the Top 13 and judges but the celebrities (and former contestants) came out in droves to see who would win the singing competition. 

It looks like season four winner, Carrie Underwood, hurt her knee somehow since she’s got her “owie” all covered up with four Hello Kitty bandaids. She still managed to look absolutely fabulous!

SEE MORE GREAT RED CARPET PICS AFTER THE JUMP!

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After they checked in with the hometowns of finalists, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, the Top 13 performed Pink’s hit song “So What?”  I am not sure why they picked this since I don’t think it works well as a group number.  It sounds kind of cheesy to be honest.  Kudos to Scott MacIntyre (Idol’s first visually impaired contestant) for navigating his way through the performance!

American Idol season 7 winner, David Cook, performed a song called “Permanent” and I really liked it.  He really is an impressive artist and I’m so happy with how great his career has progressed since the show ended.

More “Golden Idol Awards” (these are a little mean, aren’t they?).  They showed clips of the worst auditions of this season.  I am ashamed to admit that I could not stop laughing!  It great to see a whole highlight reel of Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle material.  He won, of course

Queen Latifah took the stage along with former contestant, Lil Rounds.  They performed “Cue the Rain” and it was a pretty good performance.  Did you like it?

Jason Mraz, along with former finalists, Anoop Desai and Alexis Grace, sang his huge hit “I’m Yours” (the rest of the Top 13) and I really thought it was a bit choppy and off.  I really love Jason Mraz and he was great but it felt a little strained and weird. 

We next got to see “The Journey of Kris Allen” and those montages always give me the chills.  I love to see how far they’ve come since we first saw the finalists in the audition round.

Kris thrilled his fans by coming out on stage with Keith Urban where they sang “Kiss a Girl” and I thought it was fabulous!

The great pairing just made the girls’ group performance stand out as mediocre.  Okay, really it was mostly Jasmine Murray who was seriously struggling (as she did in the Top 13 group number earlier) as she and Megan Joy started by singing “Glamorous.”  Allison Iraheta introduced Fergie who sang “Big Girls Don’t Cry” but the action didn’t stop there. 

The rest of the Black Eyed Peas came out and they performed their new single “Boom Boom Pow.”  It was an awesome performance and, is it just me, or is Fergie looking better these days?

Yuck, we get to see Katrina “Bikini Girl” Darrell again as a nominee(and winner) for the “Golden Idol Awards” in the “Best Attitude” category.  Why does she get to sing?  Ugh.  She butchered “Vision of Love” and I’m wondering if Nick Cannon is going to come out and defend his wife, Mariah Carey’s honor this time.  Uh oh.  Kara DioGuardi, Bikini Girl’s nemesis, came out on the stage and stole the spotlight by not only outsinging her but by also flashing her own bikini on stage.  That was awesome!

Allison Iraheta and Cyndi Lauper performed “Time After Time” and I thought it was a pretty great pairing.  It was a nice, mellow performance.  There were a couple weird moments but they are both, um, unique artists so what can you expect?

After Ryan talked to Kris Allen’s parents, Danny Gokey sang “Hello” (yikes, not sure I would have been brave enough to since that song after David Cook slayed it last season) and was joined by Lionel Richie and they sang some of Richie’s other music.

We got to see “The Journey of Adam Lambert” and then he took the stage with KISS.  Does it get much better than that?  I loved his outfit too!  I absolutely LOVE KISS and the fireworks and makeup are the only thing this year that has been more over-the-top than Adam Lambert on Idol.  What a show!

Carlos Santana had the bad luck to follow KISS and Adam Lambert but he was amazing, of course.  I love Santana.  He was joined by Matt Giraud and then the rest of the Top 13 when he started playing “Smooth.”  So good. 

After a Ford commercial with Adam, Kris and David Cook, Steve Martin took the stage with Michael Sarver and Megan Joy.  It was a cute banjo/bluegrassy kind of number. 

The Top 13 guys sang a group number where they performed “If You Want My Body” and introduced Rod Stewart.  I love him too!  He sounded a little rough but who cares!?

The last “Golden Idol Award” was awarded to Tatiana Del Toro for Outstanding Female.  She ran up on stage (even though Ryan pretended he needed to go to a break), accepted her award and started signing “Saving All My Love For You.”  Gotta love Tatiana.

For one last time, the Top 2 are singing together.  Kris and Adam sang “We Are The Champions” and it was really good.  I’m freaking out.  I don’t even know who I want to win tonight. 

Over 100 million votes were cast (recording breaking!).

FIND OUT WHO WON AMERICAN IDOL AFTER THE JUMP!

The winner of the eighth season of American Idol is… KRIS ALLEN!!!!!  I can’t believe this!  WOW!!!!!!!!!

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Ray Mickshaw / FOX

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