PICTURES of American Idol wannabe Antonella Barba warming up her tonsils in unconventional style have made her a star in the US.

And now that Antonella has been booted from the show, she uses her mouth to tell People magazine how it feels.

As with all reality TV shows there are shocks as talent is forsaken for something less. The show has cast a spotlight on one Sanjaya Malakar, a teenager who would whisper if he only spoke up a bit.

We had thought Antonella would progress far, past third, fourth and even fifth base. Antonella would go all the way.

But it was not to be. And now she tells us: “All that other stuff was completely irrelevant to the fact that I’m here to sing.”

And so it was - which is hard luck on Antonella who may have expected something else. Because, as People says, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Right?

“Yes, it’s true that my name is more well-known because of it, but I’m not known for the things that I would like to be known for right now,” says Antonella. She says that “the pictures are irrelevant to me as an artist”.

And: “I wanted to make a name for myself in singing. The pictures that have been released of me – the ones that actually are me – they were very personal and that is not how I intended to portray myself. I’d rather promote myself in a more classy way. And, again, that was private – that was not for the public eye.”

Antonella’s mistake seems to have been to stray from the celebrity guide – the straight-to-internet, X-rated stuff coincides with a mid-career dip career and not at fame’s apogee.

So what now for Antonella? People hears of an offer to pose for Playboy, which she denies.

But People wants to know if she’d do it?

“No,” she replies. “Right now I want to look at all the offers I get and sort out what’s best for me right now. I’m definitely not opposed to acting or modelling or something.”

As she said after the show: “I’d love to do all three, act, model, and sing. I’m definitely willing to sort out the offers I get and figure out what’s best for me.”

We are sure there will no shortage of offers for Antonella. And, who knows, someone may even want her to sing…

Posted: 12th, March 2007 | In: American Idol. Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0