It’s become a pattern.

Each week, “American Idol” contestant Sanjaya Malakar — the one with the flowing locks and megawatt smile — sings an off-key, lifeless rendition of a well-known song, then Randy, Paula and Simon pan it.

They tell the 17-year-old he’s a nice kid with nice hair but isn’t as talented as the other “AI” finalists.

Yet, Malakar remains a contestant on Fox’s top-rated reality show.

Last week he wasn’t even among the bottom two vote-getters despite a hokey version of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.”

Instead, it was Stephanie Edwards and Chris Richardson, two contestants who, unlike Malakar, could carry a tune.

So what’s the deal?

Dave Della Terza believes his Web site is part of the reason Malakar will join nine other “Idol” finalists in working with pop star Gwen Stefani tonight.

 He is the man behind www.votefortheworst.com, which has gained national attention thanks to Howard Stern promoting it on his radio show.

And thanks to Malakar, the “Idol” finalist who the Worsters — the nickname for the site’s fans — have made their pet project for this season.

Della Terza was in a good mood Thursday morning, the night after Edwards was ousted from the competition and Malakar survived to butcher another song.

He was busy going through the more than 500 e-mails that flooded his mailbox after the show.

“I thought they were going to kick him out,” the 24-year-old Chicago man said of Malakar. “I honestly did.”

Della Terza created “Vote for the Worst” in 2004.

Why do it? The answer is on the site’s home page:

“‘American Idol’ is not about singing at all, it’s about making good reality TV and enjoying the cheesy, guilty pleasure of watching bad singing.

“We agree that a fish out of water is entertaining, and we want to acknowledge this fact by encouraging people to make an even funnier show by helping the amusing antagonists stick around.

“VFTW sees keeping these contestants around as a golden opportunity to make a funnier show.”

“It started as a joke,” said Della Terza, who works two jobs and will teach a reality TV course this summer at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill. “This show is so corny. It embraces corniness. We wanted to have some fun.”

Della Terza said the site draws 1 million hits per day. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, the number soared to almost 3 million each day, he said.

“The last two days were the biggest we’ve ever had,” he said.

Even the contestants acknowledge it. Finalist Chris Sligh appeared to give Della Terza a shout-out Thursday, saying “Hi Dave” after his performance. One of VFTW bloggers dared Sligh to do it.

“It was very funny,” he said. “We’re convinced he read this on the Web site.”

 Of course, not all the site’s visitors are fans. Della Terza posts some of the hate mail, misspelled words and all.

“(People) take the show so seriously,” he said. “It’s like they themselves are on the show or as if they know these people who are voted off. Like they’re a brother, a sister or daughter and not some random person on TV.”

Della Terza said he’s also heard from Fox — twice. The first time it asked him to removed copyrighted material or face a lawsuit. He complied.

Last year, he said the network threatened him again.

“They told me they were putting a lawsuit together and I asked them what the lawsuit was for,” he said. “They said ‘You’ll see,’ but never wrote back.”

Robert Thompson, director for the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, says it’s natural sites such as “Vote for the Worst” crop up.

“Half the fun of reality TV is making fun of it,” he said, then jokingly added, “I see no challenge to our civilization because of it.”

Thompson, however, said he believes the Worsters overestimate the impact they have on the competition.

“With Sanjaya, it’s 2 million adolescent women who burst into tears when he sings and say how dreamy he is,” Thompson said, explaining why Malakar sticks around. “They are the ones who are voting 6,000 times.”

Della Terza is convinced that’s not the case.

“They tell you every vote counts, so how can the Worsters vote not count?” he asked.

Fox releases vote estimates — usually more than 30 million call or text-message their votes each week — but does not give out individual totals, so it’s hard to gauge.

That’s why Della Terza believes Malakar is not long for this world.

“It’s not a talent competition,” he emphasized. “The producers know who they want to win.”

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.