Insider's Look From the Idol Audience

TMZ.com "secured entry" to Wednesday's Idol results show with Jennifer Lopez and says it has "the dirt" on what went on behind the scenes.


After going through metal detectors, checking their cell phones and cameras at the door, and depositing gum into the CBS Studio page's blue cup (no gum chewing allowed on camera), TMZ was ushered to their seats. Celebrities in the audience included Eva Longoria, Sharon Osbourne, J.Lo BFF Leah Remini and Donna Mills.

Remini made an entire row get up and move so she and her hubby, Angelo Pagan, could sit on the aisle. When a page tried to get Leah to dispose of her gum, she shot him a look that sent him cowering back to his post.

Booted finalist Chris Sligh entered the studio and the crowd roared with applause and cheers. Sligh must be a fan of "King of Queens," because he made a beeline for Remini and introduced himself. Preteen fans roamed the set asking for autographs from ex-"Idols" like Sligh, Alaina Alexander (who traipsed around in red 5-inch heels), and Season 5 diva Mandisa. Some Fanjayas even approached Shyamali Malakar, Sanjaya's sexy sister.

Just prior to going live, judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul entered the studio while high-fiving fans with their bodyguards in tow. When they weren't on camera, guards never left their sides. Abdul made it a point to go up to fan after fan during commercial breaks, while Randy and Simon waved from their perch.

Akon's performance was not live. The studio audience watched a pretaped performance on a screen, just like everyone at home. Before J.Lo's performance, Longoria chatted up Remini and her husband, while Simon and his newly named "America's Got Talent judge Sharon Osbourne kibbitzed on the side.

Everyone was on their feet when Lopez went on stage and sang her new Spanish-language single "Que Hiciste?" The fiery performace filled the studio with so much smoke, that the production staff scrambled to air out the set by the end of the next commercial break.

When Ryan Seacrest revealed that Phil Stacey was safe, Sanjaya's mom and sis let out cheers (don't they like Haley?).

After the show ended, producer Simon Lythgoe announced that Marc Anthony, who was backstage with his wife, was asked at the last minute to tape a humorous segment for the upcoming "Idol Gives Back" charity special. Marc obliged and lip-synched a version of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees in front of a green screen.

The evening's final surprise came with one more unannounced performance: P!nk was in the house to tape a segment for an upcoming episode (like Akon). Simon, Paula and Randy didn't stick around to watch, so audience members sat in for them. Wearing a form-fitting dress, P!nk sang her hit "Who Knew," while the remaining "Idol" finalists sat in the back, groovin'.

The audience was released four hours after arriving to the "Idol" set.

ALAINA'S DARK SIDE

Of course, had you been at the "Idol" results show, you might not have recognized former finalist Alaina Alexander, because she has gone over to the dark side ... well, at least as far as her hair color is concerned.

The newly raven-haired singer is flaunting the sexy new 'do on her MySpace page. She has also come up with a new career strategy: She played a small gig last week at Hollywood's famous Cat Club on the Sunset Strip and, according to TMZ.com, Alexander's plan is to play "a gig a month."

The gossip site, which also previously linked Alaina romantically with fellow finalist Chris "Timberfake" Richardson, wonders if that romance is dead, as its cameras recently caught Richardson flirting with "The Hills" star Lauren Conrad, who has recently been embroiled in a possible sex-tape scandal.

Moments before the two met up at L.A.'s Les Deux, Conrad was on her cell phone outside the club, playfully telling whoever was on the other line, "I'm so mad at you right now, hurry up!" Moments later, Richardson arrived, much to the delight of the giddy blonde.

The two were then ushered into Les Deux, bypassing the huge line outside, where more people recognized "The Hills" star than the "Idol" crooner.

LOPEZ'S IDOL COMMENTS ...

... Have her sounding like a Scientologist, according to the New York Daily News making the paper ask the question: Is Jennifer Lopez still flirting with Scientology? When host Ryan Seacrest asked the singer what she thought of the judges' critiques of the contestants, Lopez said that, in contrast to the stinging put-downs of Simon Cowell, she believed that "concentrating on the rightness brings more rightness."

The paper says "rightness" comes up frequently in the lexicon of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Former OT III-level church member Margery Wakefield writes in "The Language of Scientology" that "rightness" was one of his buzzwords. Among Hubbard's manifestoes: "Rightness and Wrongness" and "Recognition of Rightness of the Being."

Lopez said recently that, while she was raised as a Catholic, her dad, David Lopez, "has been a Scientologist for 20 years. It's weird people want to paint it in a negative way." She and husband Marc Anthony have also been spending more time with Scientology star couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, while Leah Remini, J.Lo's BFF, is also a Scientologist and mutual friend to the Cruises. She also attended the "Idol" results show (see above).

J.Lo and Anthony seemed to think her "A.I." performance was on the "right" track. They happily met up with Eva Longoria and other friends after the show at L.A. hot spot Social. Despite OK! magazine's claim that they've "split," Anthony was overheard toasting Lopez as "the love of his life."

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