He may not have walked away with the American Idol title — but few who watched last season will forget Sanjaya Malakar. Turns out, castmate Blake Lewis didn’t even want the aspiring singer on the show. “I was never a fan of Sanjaya,” Lewis says in a new interview with a Jacksonville, Fla.-area radio station. In the interview, the Idol runner-up says that Malakar made for “terrible television” and even reveals that he was initially cut from the show.

http://tvwatch.people.com/2008/03/31/blake-lewis-on-sanjaya-i-was-never-a-fan/

I don't think Blake had any right to trash Sanjaya that way. I was never a
Sanjaya fan, but I don't think that Blake had a right to gripe about how long
that Sanjaya stayed, while some of his (Blake's) friends were sent home. It
WAS NOT Sanjaya's fault! One of the few things I agree with Simon on is
that a lot of people turn this into a popularity contest, instead of a singing
competition. I truly believe THAT is what kept Sanjaya on so long! But
again, it wasn't his fault, so shut up, Blake! By the way, I was never a
fan of you, either!