Casey Abrams has leant his backing to his pal Haley Reinhart and claimed that she stands a “very, very good” chance of winning the 2011 series of American Idol.

Abrams was voted off the hit Fox reality TV show last week and has spent the days since denying rumours that he and Reinhart have been dating.

Insisting that they are just ‘friends’ and ‘musical buddies’, Casey told Us Weekly:

“We’re friends. We’re musical buddies. Musical counterparts. We would always sit really close to one another and giggle about things, just talk about how crazy our schedule is.”

“We’d just laugh at dumb things away from everyone else and I think that’s why everyone thought that we were dating. It’s good having that one person who really knows you as a person, and can relate with everything that’s going on. Get through the hard times and celebrate the good times.”

On whether or not she can win the show, he continued:

“[Her chances are] good. Very, very good. Her voice is incredible. The tone of her voice is like nothing I’ve ever, ever heard before. Never ever.

“I wish you knew how serious I was about this. Like, it’s never going to be replicated, and it’s never been done before. I mean, I think her heart’s in jazz, jazzy rock. That Adele song ['Rolling In The Deep'] was perfect and I thought ‘Moanin” was amazing.”