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" American Idol hopeful Jessica Sanchez has spoken for the first time since finishing in second place on the programme. The 16-year-old, who was Digital Spy readers&amp;#039; favourite in exit polls every week for the duration of the live shows, lost out to Phillip Phillips in Wednesday evening&amp;#039;s final (May 23).  Sanchez told reporters at a post-show press conference that she felt &amp;quot;kind of relieved that this whole thing is over&amp;quot;, but added that she intends to go into her future career with a clear outlook. &amp;quot;Now that I have time to put myself into my music, it&amp;#039;s going to be all me - 100% me,&amp;quot; she explained.  Sanchez also offered her congratulations to Phillips, saying that she was confident he would win the competition as early as last week&amp;#039;s semi-final stage. &amp;quot;I told him he was gonna win during the Top 3 results show... he has worked harder than all of us. He&amp;#039;s been having to keep up with his health issues with his kidneys,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s been through it all a lot more than us mentally and physically... I made [the] Top 2 and it&amp;#039;s such a big accomplishment.&amp;quot; American Idol will return in 2013 on Fox. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/american-idol/news/a383308/american-idol-runner-up-im-kind-of-relieved-the-show-is-over/>