I wasn't the weakest, Idol reject says

THANH Bui says he is "bitterly disappointed'' to have been voted off Australian Idol and believes he wasn't the weakest performer in the competition.

Bui says he's devastated he won't get to live out his childhood dream of going to the ARIA awards next weekend after being eliminated from the Network Ten TV show last night.

"I know that I'm not the weakest performer there and even on Sunday night I know that I wasn't the weakest performance on the night,'' Bui said today.

"But it's a competition, it's not about how good you are, it's about how well you connect and I didn't do that as well as the other guys did.''

Bui, the son of Vietnamese immigrants, will now miss out on going to the ARIA awards on Sunday with the remaining contestants.

"It's been a childhood dream to go to the ARIAs,'' he said.

"I was one week away.''

Bui said he had a lot more to show of himself, and believes he was harshly treated by the judges, especially Ian 'Dicko' Dickson, who he said had very high expectations of him because he believed in him.

"They were really hard on me,'' the 25-year-old from Melbourne said.

"There was a lot of comments it was either touchdown or nothing much, there was no in-between for me and it was hard.

"But it is opinions and I take it on board, and I want to get the most out of the opportunities that have been given to me.''

Bui hopes his fans have not seen the last of him and he has an album of songs he's written ready to go.

"I'm very passionate about getting it out there .. the dream continues,'' he said.

"I know this is just the start and I'm still very young.''

He wished everyone in the competition "all the best'' and said he hoped his best mate Teale Jakubenko wins.

source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24495170-5005961,00.html