Sanjaya Malakar

'Latino Love For Sanjaya'

The plucky teen, whose amazing run on "American Idol" is driving some fans crazy, made it through another round of the talent show last night.

While Malakar - whose mediocre singing ability has been ripped by viewers since he made the finals last month - was spared, Haley Scarnato, 24, from San Antonio, Texas, was sent packing.

Scarnato sang Gloria Estafan's "Turn the Beat Around" on this week's Latin-themed edition of the show, which featured superstar Jennifer Lopez.

Scarnato's performance drew a lukewarm reception from the show's judges.

Snarky Simon Cowell noted that Scarnato's strategy seemed to be to wear as few clothes as possible.

"It was Latin night," Scarnato said yesterday about the skimpy outfit she wore Tuesday.

With Scarnato gone, it was Sanjaya's continuing run on "Idol" that left fans buzzing last night.

His improbable run has been marred by derision, mostly on the Internet, but the criticism has spilled over to newspapers, magazines, radio and TV.

For Tuesday night's show, Malakar chose to sing the hit "Bésame Mucho," a song in Spanish, a move that moved Cowell to say: "I'm gonna hate myself for this, but it wasn't horrible."

At least part of the Washington state native's appeal may be his ability to smile and keep a friendly demeanor even in the face of constant criticism.

It doesn't hurt that each week he has changed his looks, at one point sporting a hairdo that featured seven vertical ponytails, which fans dubbed a "ponyhawk."

Much of the attention surrounding Sanjaya stems from a campaign, led by shock-jock Howard Stern and the Web site votefortheworst.com. hoping that if Malakar wins, the wildly popular talent show will be ruined.

"Idol" producers argue that the efforts of Stern and the Web site had little effect on the overall outcome of the vote since nearly 40 million are counted each week.