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Sanjaya was, as expected, soft spoken and his answers were so brief, he managed to get through quite a few reporter questions in 30 minutes. I was like 8th in line and within 5 minutes, I got in.

Upfront, he said he sensed this was his time to go. “When I watched the show back Tuesday, I kind of had a feeling. I was in the dumps Wednesday. I kind of knew.”

“I’m not a country singer. That took a toll on me. I didn’t h ave a strong enough set of performances to have people forgive me for that. LaKisha, she’s not country either. But she had enough strong performances to get through. I didn’t think I did.” (This kid ain’t stupid!)

He only had an “inkling” over time how big a deal he had become:

“It’s been kind of surreal for me. I got inklings every once in awhile of something different, something going on that was a cultural phenomenon. I don’t think it has hit me exactly how big it is.”

Did he read the blogs about himself?

“I read online blogs to balance myself. It was impossible not to hear stuff. Oftentimes, it was negative. I kind of balanced the positive and negative to stay grounded.”

I asked him whether Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” was his first choice. It wasn’t. He wanted to sing Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” but since Ford is a sponsor, the producers said, um, no. That’s kind of interesting in a random sort of way.

I had one followup and asked his favorite personal performance. Not surprisingly, it was “Busame Mucho” from last week, the only time Simon truly gave him a compliment.

His take on Simon’s negative opinion of him for most of the competition:

“I think he had gotten to the point that I hadn’t fulfilled my potential for long enough. He didn’t think I deserved to be there, whch is fine. Everyone has their opinion.”

He also reiterated what the executive producers have told us about Vote for the Worst and Howard Stern trying to subvert the voting process in his favor:

“That’s fine. I don’t think Vote for the Worst or Howard Stern had enough people voting for me enough times to make a dent in anything. The reason why I’m here is solely because of my support from my fans.”

As for the SNL skits and other shows mocking him, he said he was okay with it: “I love to poke fun at myself.”

One great question: Did you ever consider quitting out of deference to fellow singers?

Sanjaya: “No way. I was going to stay as long as I possibly could and work and learn from everything that happened.”

Did he think he had any prayer of winning?

“Every one of us wants to win. I was more focused on the learning aspect of this. I did get my GED after sophomore year. I saw this as my junior and senior year of high school. This is what I want to do. This is the way to learn it in a quick time. I got a lot further than I had expected.”

Sanjaya’s hair: “At a certain point, it had become my thing. Everyone looks for something to grab onto with each contestnat. I feel like my hair was that for me. That was my little joke back at ya.” Later, asked for his favorite hairstyle, he didn’t say it was the pony hawk: “My favorite style was when I did Busame Mucho. I always wanted my hair tob be curly like that. It’s a little curly naturally. That’s like my dream hair. I liked it.” He also confirmed that his hair styles were his choice, not the “Idol” stylist.

One questioner asked if there was a “turning point” when he decided to just go for broke?

“I think that throughout the competition, I grew as a performer and as a person. I did have a lot of things to learn from. And I think that I kind of found myself as I progressed. I don’t know when it happened. [The turning point, that is.] I do think I found myself and got more comfortable in my own skin.”

And as expected, when asked who he thinks will or should win, he punted: “The show is completely unpredictable. I honestly have no idea who will be cut next week and who’s going to win.”

His future?

“I’m definitely looking at a music career. I also will venture into acting and modelling and possibly Broadway.” (Sorry, with that voice, Broadway isn’t going to be his destiny.)

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