American Idol (season 8) American Idol (season 8) The eighth season of "American Idol" premiered on January 13, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson continued to judge the show's contestants, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. The season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the "Idol" panel. It was also Abdul's final season as a judge. Kris Allen, a native of Conway, Arkansas, was announced the winner of the competition on May 20, 2009, defeating runner-up Adam Lambert after nearly 100 million votes. This was the second season where both of the final
American Idol (video game) of 100 for the PC version, and 41 out of 100 each for the PS2 and GBA versions. "X-Play" gave the game a 1 out of 5, complaining about the gameplay consisting of pressing buttons in time to judge the character's singing and not on the player's actual singing. In addition to the release of "Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol" for the PlayStation 2 on January 2, 2007, a sequel "Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore" was released during the 1st quarter of 2008 following its direct sequel "Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2" which was released on November