With its combination of raw talent and some seriously scary auditions, “American Idol” has been surprising and exciting viewers for eight seasons. An entire culture of people watches the show every week, twice a week, for up to two hours at a clip. They diligently place their votes via phone or text and hope their favorite contestant makes it to the next round.

The recent finale results, which named 23-year old Kris Allen over Adam Lambert as the winner, may have some people speculating: what do viewers consider when choosing their next American Idol?

During this season, the competition proved eclectic from the start, as a variety of voices were featured in the Top 13, from Alison Iraheta’s soulful rocker voice to Anoop Desai’s melodic R&B notes. But 26-year old Adam Lambert, one of the oldest contestants in this year’s competition, seemed to shine with his vocals from the very beginning. He performed covers of many popular songs, namely Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” and an eerily resonant rendition of “Mad World” by Tears for Fears.

While Lambert’s inherent flair and flashy style became part of his persona, it also gave viewers reason to question his sexuality. Shortly after the top ten was chosen, pictures of Lambert dressed in drag and kissing other men started cropping up all over the net. The issue was even discussed on Bill O’Reilly’s show, raising the question of whether Lambert being gay would affect voter opinions. Lambert kept quiet during the competition, insisting during interviews that people could “keep speculating”.

Then, Entertainment Weekly named him “The Most Exciting American Idol Contestant in Years” in its May 15th issue, pointing out the fact that, a few years ago, Lambert may have been dismissed at auditions for being “too Broadway or too musical theater”. Certainly, making it to the top two was a big step for ambiguous rock stars everywhere trying to make a name for themselves.

As for Allen, many questioned his talent from the beginning and were shocked to see him get as far as he did. Even Allen was surprised when he was announced the winner, exclaiming, “Are you serious?” while a humble Lambert gave him a victory hug.

A rumor about a possible AT&T scandal broke in the news the following week, stating that Allen’s fans were provided with special mobile phones and codes during two parties in Arkansas to send “power texts” or vote for Allen in blocks of ten. AT&T issued a statement saying, “It’s quite a leap to suggest that a few individuals could have impacted the final results.”

Certainly, this is not the first time a controversy among the voter population has come up, as popular stars from past seasons such as Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry were eliminated seemingly before their time. Whether or not the competition was manipulated, there are many out there who think Lambert should have won.

“I believe Adam was the better contestant,” said 25-year old Queens resident Laura Kasakoff. “He was consistently better the entire season and there weren’t any performances where I wasn’t wowed by him…watching Adam was like watching an already established pop star and the other contestants seemed like they were in a high school talent show.”

On why the final results favored Allen, Kasakoff believes that viewers didn’t go for Lambert’s in-your-face personality and preferred Allen and 2nd runner-up Danny Gokey’s all-American style.

“When Danny was eliminated it seemed more palpable for a lot of his fans to support Kris,” she said, adding that the large population of teenage girls who were probably voting wanted someone “non-threatening.”

Kasakoff remains positive about Lambert’s star status however, stating, “I think Adam is going to be big and now he’s not going to be branded by the stigma attached to being the American Idol.”

Allen definitely displayed creativity in the competition while Lambert took each song and blew the judges away every week. Did America want to see the underdog win? Or were they seduced by the story of the “everyman” popularized last season when bartender David Cook decided to try out for “American Idol” on a whim and made it all the way to the top?

“I wasn’t impressed with Kris initially,” admitted 25-year old Jersey City resident Lynn Bartkowicz. “But when he did the remake of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ (originally sung by Bill Withers) I thought it was different,” she explains, adding that she purchased each Idol’s song on iTunes every week and noticed the person she bought the most from was Allen.

“Kris would compose and re-compose songs and I gave him a lot of respect for that,” she explains, adding that many of Lambert’s song covers had already been performed by other artists.

“I know there is speculation as to certain social issues [with Lambert] and I don’t know if I buy into that…it’s about who entertained you the most. Entertainment is a very subjective thing.” Bartkowicz added that she’s been an on and off Idol viewer for years, but this was the first season where she actually voted.

With a new world record of almost 100 million votes cast, the show’s popularity remains true. While rumors in the past calling voting unfair and competitions rigged have been circulated and re-circulated, and statistics are not provided by Fox Network that prove or disprove any viewer theories.

A recent development in the latest issue of Rolling Stone released on June 10th, 2009 confirms that Lambert is, in fact, gay. Why did he wait on this reveal? “I was worried that [coming out] would be so sensationalized that it would overshadow what I was there to do, which was sing,” he states in the issue.

Whatever the facts are about who’s voting and why, one fact remains: “American Idol”, even after eight seasons, still seems to keep fans guessing.