HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Former bartender David Cook walked away with the "American Idol" crown Wednesday night, easily defeating runner-up teen prodigy David Archuleta.
The 25-year-old Cook won by a margin of 12 million votes out of a record 97.5 million cast by viewers.
"I'm absolutely at a loss for words right now," the Blue Springs, Mo. native told the crowd after being revealed as the winner. "This is amazing. Thank you."
The 17-year-old Archuleta, a native of Murray, Utah, had outperformed Cook in the judges' eyes on Tuesday night with his renditions of John Lennon's "Imagine" and Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." His performances led to judge Simon Cowell calling the evening "a knockout" by Archuleta.
But the fan vote, which smashed the show's previous record by 23 million, went decidedly in favor of Cook, who received 56 percent of the votes to Archuleta's 44 percent.
Prior to host Ryan Seacrest revealing the season seven results, Cowell made it a point to apologize to Cook for his remarks the night before.
"I went back home to watch it, it wasn't quite so clear cut as we called it," he said. "I will take this opportunity to apologize, because I think I was verging on disrespectful with you. I don't think you deserved that."
Wednesday night's broadcast from the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles included performances by Donna Summer, Seal, Carrie Underwood, Bryan Adams and George Michael.
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