American Idol (season 4) American Idol (season 4) The fourth season of "American Idol" premiered on January 18, 2005 and continued until May 25, 2005. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell also returned to judge. Carrie Underwood won the season with approximately 500 million votes cast in the season and 37 million for the finale. Underwood has since gone on to become a seven-time Grammy-winning country megastar. While in the past seasons celebrity guest judges have been invited to participate during the competition, this was the first season where guest judges were invited to participate in the
Peter Jackson (judge) had been widely criticised in the media for being able to make crucial rulings without public scrutiny. In January 2016 Judge Jackson issued a ruling which appeared at variance with the findings of police investigation which had resulted in no prosecution. Although there had been no prosecution the Judge found that the father had on the balance of probabilities abused the baby before her death. Judge Jackson also criticised the Police and Social Services. In September 2016 Jackson was praised for rephrasing an entire judgement into a 17-page document using simple phrases and emojis in hopes that the children involved