VAR's Son Archuleta No. 2 On American Idol

Archuleta, the 17-year-old son of Jeff Archuleta, owner of Utah solution provider Arch Consulting, garnered some 43 million votes, but finished just behind rocker David Cook, who was named this year's American Idol.

Archuleta was the presumed favorite going into the voting Tuesday night, as judge Simon Cowell declared that Archuleta would be the winner. Still, Cook's fans rallied to generate some 12 million more votes than Archuleta.

It's not the end of the road for Archuleta, though, who will join David Cook and the other eight of American Idol's top 10 contestants on the road this summer for a live concert series.

A favorite of young fans in the competition week after week, Archuleta also faced some harsh criticism in the blogosphere for his onstage shyness and his tendency to declare "gosh."

But it was David Archuleta's father Jeff Archuleta who garnered the lion's share of publicity.

Jeff Archuleta, who has taken time off from his solution provider business in Utah to be with his son during the competition, was frequently the subject "stage dad from hell" stories in both mainstream press and the Hollywood gossip trades.

American Idol doesn't allow contestants or family members to speak to us about the show, but Arch Consulting employees said they didn't believe the rumors about Jeff. "David is young and Jeff is a very caring father, so I believe that Jeff was there watching out for him," said one employee. "But I don't believe the evil stage dad rumors at all. Jeff and David are very close."

While David Archuleta remained in the competition, Jeff Archuleta stayed with him in Los Angeles and kept in touch with his employees via phone and email, Arch Consulting Group employees said. Jeff is still involved in the business, but he turned the day to day operations over to staff while he and son David are in Los Angeles, they said.

Has the son's fame resulted in any residuals for Arch Consulting Group? "We have had some phone calls about it, but it hasn't really changed the business," one employee said. "Mostly customers already know what's going on and call to wish David well."

So do we. Good luck to both Jeff and David.