Like I said a few weeks ago, there are certain moments up here that I like to think of as ‘Only in Iceland’ moments. No, former MP Arni Johnsen’s pardon is not one of them, unfortunately, but last night’s episode of American reality TV show Rockstar Supernova sure is.

On Wednesday night, in a statisical coup, this sparsely populated island saved their latest ambassador of rock – Magni Ásgeirsson – from being kicked on the American reality TV show Rockstar Supernova. (See Daily News item, ´Vote Magni´Campaign Delivers.)

It’s a rare thing that gets me to publicly admit to my mild – very mild – reality television habit. But this, I think, is worth outing myself.

I’m not going to get into all the sordid details. Here’s the deal: Magni is one of six remaining contestants duking it out to be the frontman of a band comprised of a strange brew of metalheads past their prime. Other contestants hail from the US, South Africa, Australia, and Canada.

Part of the show’s premise, as dictated by the American Idol model, is audience participation. Viewers vote who they think should stay on the show after an episode ends.

Here in Iceland, Rockstar Supernova is broadcast in real time, meaning it airs live on Reykjavik’s televisions in the dead middle of the night. In order to vote for Magni, Icelanders have to stay up all night.

And they did. In droves. I have a friend who set out bowls of candy at her work, that started at run of the mill candy, and went to really good candy. What bowl you got to take from corresponded with how many times you voted fpr Magni. People voted thousands of times each, to the point where the Rockstar Supernova voting system may have actually shut down on them. Whatever the cause, the breakdown was the talk of the town the next day.

Technical glitches aside, the result was that Magni was “safe” – unable to be cast aside by the band for this episode no matter what they think of him. All the other contestants received so few votes in comparison to Magni’s fan turnout that they were all called up before the firing squad that could shatter their whisky-and-black-leather dreams.

Now that’s something. Could Iceland be displaying is a wildly disproportionate amount of interest in this show? Could South Africans have other things on their minds? Could the sheer will of one little country’s desire to be the best at everything throw a wrench into the carefully crafted system of elimination on reality TV’s latest product?

Or maybe it’s simplier than all that. Maybe Magni is a great guy who deserves to be famous. Why do we like Magni? We like Magni because, until last night’s performance, he didn’t wear eyeliner. (I have nothing against men in eyeliner, but let’s face it. You can spot bad black eyeliner a mile away. It works for Robert Smith, but sorry, Dave Navarro and Magni, it doesn’t work for either of you.) We like Magni because he has his son’s name tattooed on his arm. We like Magni because he got the show’s bronzed Hollywood hostess to wear Icelandic flag wristbands on air. We like Magni because even after the show’s enfant terrible Dilana smashed her Rockstar glass on the Rockstar mansion floor and a shard bounced off the ground and sliced Magni’s bald head right open, he comforted her in the Rockstar bathroom and protected her from the intrusive, offensive cameramen. That they agreed to live with. Whatever.

It’s all been very dramatic in Rockstarland. And while Magni is empirically the most likeable, low-key member of the remaining five “Rockers,” and does have a great voice, in the end, I suspect that Iceland’s group effort cannot save him.

I’m saying it. I don’t really think that Magni is, in the words of Tommy Lee, “right for the band.” And that is the best compliment I could give him.

But if I disappear in the middle of the night tonight, you know why.

KLM