During the sixth season of the American singing competition show, American Idol, finalist Sanjaya Malakar performed the song "You Really Got Me" (originally by The Kinks). The performance was less than impressive, but one fangirl in the front section of the audience had an exceptional reaction to Sanjaya's performance.

Sanjaya had previously accumulated a poor reputation on the show for his outrageous hairstyles and flamboyant attitude, so this reaction from the girl in the audience is not only overly dramatic, but surprising! An occurence that nobody could see coming. The girl began to have almost as much attention as Sanjaya himself!

So, who is the Sanjaya girl?

As it turns, the Sanjaya Girl was 13-year-old Ashley Ferl, a resident of Riverside, California. Ashley had attended a dress rehearsal for American Idol and had begin tearing up during the rehearsal. A producer spotted her and offered her front-section seats for the show. Though she cried throughout the entire show (presumably star-struck by the show and contestants as a whole), the footage is only shown during and after Sanjaya's performance, so as to imply that he was her favorite. So the reaction wasn't completely legitimate, but she still obtained media attention on the internet and the news.

Derivatives

Interview with Ashley