David Cook proved that you don’t necessarily need the support of Simon Cowell to make it in the music business last night (May 21st) as he was crowned American Idol.
The singer, who was criticised throughout the reality TV series by Cowell, won the competition with a landslide victory over fellow finalist David Archuleta.
Cook received 12 million more votes than his competitor as 97.5million people voted across the country.
The 25-year-old singer sang Collective Soul’s ‘The World I Know’ and U2’s ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ during the final.
Archuleta, who’s just 17, was widely tipped to become the competitions winner.
George Michael toasted Cook’s win, singing a medley of hits alongside all the competition’s 12 contestants.
You can see a selection of photos from last night below...
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