Washington/New York Indian American teen wonder Sanjaya Malakar, comfortably survived another elimination round on the hit US show "American Idol" after singing a Latino number, a performance that even the judge Simon Cowell, so far hostile to him, found "wasn't horrible". Malakar, who in the words of The Washington Post's TV columnist has completely taken over the "American Idol" singing competition, was among the five declared "safe" in Wednesday night's results round that left seven in the fray. Even before he sang one note Tuesday night, Malakar, the focus of YouTube parodies and the site Votefortheworst.com, got a rave review from megastar Jennifer Lopez and then a rare if reluctant compliment from judge Simon Cowell. Sprouting Marc Anthonyesque facial hair in honour of J. Lo's appearance as guest "mentor", he left her utterly smitten. "He chose a beautiful Spanish song and I have to tell you, he really impressed me!" J. Lo gushed to the camera after rehearsing "Besame Mucho" with Sanjaya. "I love Sanjaya!" she giggled, adding, "I think Simon might be impressed." "I have to tell you he really, really impressed me," said Lopez as his ballad, sung in Spanish, hushed the excited crowd. "I couldn't understand a word of it, you sang like a 14-year-old and - I'm going to hate myself for this - it wasn't horrible," judge Cowell, usually very harsh on Sanjaya's singing aspirations, confessed. "You are one of the smartest contestants we've ever had," a mesmerised Randy Jackson told Sanjaya, who has an Indian father and an Italian mother. "Smooth. It was nice - very, very nice," said Paula Abdul. As America watched transfixed by his singing and his hair, Malakar's pastor and choir director in his Seattle hometown said: "I hope people know I'm so proud of this young man."

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