Sanjaya Malakar

Sanjaya Joseph Malakar ( /sænˈdʒaɪ.ə ˈmɑːləkɑr/; Hindi: संजय मलाकार; born September 10, 1989) is an American singer, who was a finalist on the sixth season of American Idol. He gained national attention on the series, controversially advancing to 7th place with public votes, despite being poorly received by the show's judges, particularly Simon Cowell. After Idol, Malakar made many television guest appearances and has been commonly parodied in popular culture. He got to 5th place in season two of the reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Malakar was born in the large suburb of Federal Way, which is in the Seattle metropolitan area. His father, a musician, is a Bengali Indian named Vasudeva Malakar, who immigrated...