In an American Idol first, two Asian Americans will compete in the finals tonight on American Idol.
Francisco Martin, a Filipino American from Daly City and Arthur Gunn, a the Nepalese American from Wichita, KS are among the 7 contestants vying for the championship which will be announced tonight.
At the beginning of the episode which will be broadcast live on the East Coast, the top five will be announced based on last week’s fan voting. Fans will then be asked to vote for the champion from among the top 5. Voting opens at 8 pm Eastern and closes after the second round of performances.
This unfortunately puts Martin at a distinct disadvantage. His fans on the West Coast will not be able to vote for him while watching the broadcast. That means if you’re not in the Eastern or Central time zones, and you’d like to vote, you’ll need to vote without seeing tonight’s performances.
You can vote one of three ways. You can vote online at idolvote.abc.com. You can vote using the American Idol app on IOS and on Android. Finally simply text the corresponding number of the contestant you would like to vote for to “21523“. To vote for Martin, text “12” to 21523. To vote for Gunn, text “16” to 21523. You can vote up to ten times on each voting method meaning if you used all three methods, you could vote 30 times.
You can expect Martin’s and Gunn’s family to do just that.
“When he was younger, he was more of the annoying little brother that you have,” Kiko Martin said to ABC7. “But, I’m such a proud brother for him. I know that he was an everyday kid, but seeing him on national TV, we’re really proud of him and we really hope that he goes so far with his career.”
Gunn is still in disbelief that he’s gotten this far.
“I’ve had a little bit of nervousness, but I always believed in my music and believed in myself that I could do it,” he said to the Kansas.com.
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