American Idol host Ryan Seacrest has defended the decision made by show bosses to disqualify finalist Joanna Pacitti.

News emerged yesterday that the singer had been replaced in the final 36 by 26 year old Felicia Barton after speculation that Joanna was too close to some of the members of the production team on the show.

Speaking to Fox News, Seacrest explained: “The producers do the background checks right around Hollywood [round]. When they see something that stands out, they have to address it.

“And they saw something, and there was apparently some sort of a link that, somewhere along the line, could be construed as one that’s close to the competition, and they didn’t want to risk it.”

He added: “You know, it’s tough when you have to do something like that. It’s not fun. Nobody wants to do it. Rules are rules and you’ve gotta play by them.”