# Is there any legal reason American Idol couldn't fix the results?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-reason-american-idol-couldnt-fix-the-results/400827>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 19, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-reason-american-idol-couldnt-fix-the-results/400827 "2007-04-19T19:25:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-reason-american-idol-couldnt-fix-the-results/400827/1 "2007-04-19T19:25:11Z")

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Sure it would be a huge scandal and would be sure to be the end of the shows exsistance but is there any legal reason AI can’t take all the voters results and then just decide for themselves who they’re going to kick off that week?  
Could they be sued by anyone?  
Don’t the contestants sign massive agreements that basically say the producers can kick them off the show at anytime for any reason they want to?

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**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-legal-reason-american-idol-couldnt-fix-the-results/400827/2 "2007-04-19T19:27:46Z")

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Wouldn’t that be legally-actionable fraud, as in the cases of the rigged quiz shows of the late '50s?