This week, Erika Van Pelt went home in 10th place on "American Idol," right after she underwent a drastic blonde-to-black hair makeover upon the urging of new "Idol" style advisor Tommy Hilfiger. The obvious assumption was that it was Erika's radical new look that had led to her downfall--either because "Idol" fans prefer blondes, or because "Idol" fans barely recognized Erika this week. But when speaking to Yahoo!'s Reality Rocks immediately after her elimination Thursday, Erika made it clear that she has no hard feelings and no regrets.
"I don't think [my hair] had anything to do with it, honestly," she said. "I'd been in the bottom literally four consecutive weeks." As for whether she'd hoped her new 'do would help keep her in the competition, Erika shrugged that theory off, saying, "No, I'm very open-minded about a lot of things, and for me [the haircut] was about a little self-exploration. I wanted to come out of my shell a little. It certainly wasn't a strategic move, thinking I would get more votes by cutting and dyeing my hair."
So, does EVP have any regrets? Well, she admitted Thursday that she wishes she'd had more of a chance to show her personality this season. But she seemed entirely at peace with her actual performances. "A couple of the contestants have had sort of iffy performances, but I can take away knowing that I never had an iffy performance," she said. "I know that if I have to watch YouTube for the rest of my life and see these clips online, I'll always be proud of what I did."
And what about her makeover? Will she keep rocking that short, dark haircut now that she's off the show? "It's going to stay for as long as I feel like it needs to stays," she laughed. "If tomorrow I feel like it needs to be a different color, I'm going to do it a different color. A bunch of cities around the country [on the summer tour] are probably going to see different EVPs. I'll keep them on their toes!"
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