In this photo made available by Fox Television, Sanjaya Malakar performs Tuesday on the set of American

It says something about the curious celebrity of former “American Idol” contestant Sanjaya Malakar that he said Thursday he’s both dreaming of a big day on Broadway, and shopping for a bodyguard, unsure of what public reaction he might receive after emerging from what he deems the “Idol” “bubble.”

In a conference call with reporters a day after he was eliminated, Malakar exuded much of the same politeness, enthusiasm and optimism which, in addition to his heckled singing skills, made him this season’s most fascinating personality.

Asked about the impact of www.votefortheworst.com and Howard Stern – both threw their support behind Malakar in hopes of mocking “Idol” – the 17-year-old from Federal Way, Wash., dismissed the controversy.

“I don’t think votefortheworst or Howard Stern had enough people voting for enough times,” he said. “The reason I’m here is solely from the support of my fans.”

As reporters cautiously asked him about whether he ever considered quitting because of media pressure, Malakar insisted that he always “was going to stay as long as I possibly could” and learn as much as possible.

Leaving high school early with a GED after his sophomore year – Malakar said he was doing poorly in school because he never did his homework – to focus more on his music, he says he saw “Idol” less as something he was obsessed with winning than as the ultimate career crash course.

“Every one of us wants to win,” he says. “I was more focused on learning from this – I saw this as my junior and senior year of high school because this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, and (it was) my way of learning this in a really short period of time.”

As for the future, Malakar says he is open to “all kinds of entertainment fields other than music,” but mentioned specifically acting, modeling and Broadway – and admitted he has long dreamed of attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Which would no doubt dismay Simon Cowell, the “Idol” judge who has been most mean-spirited about Malakar’s performances and who threatened to quit the show if Malakar won.

Malakar, however, holds no grudges. “From the beginning I think Simon saw potential in me,” the young singer says, “And when I didn’t fulfill that potential, he was kind of disappointed. He’s an amazing person, what he does is awesome; he’s very opinionated, but I learned more from him than anyone else when I was on the show.”

So what finally brought Sanjaya down?

Malakar says he’s not a country singer, and the genre surely played a factor. But he also placed blame in an unlikely place: the show’s sponsors.

Asked if Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” was his first choice on Tuesday’s country show, Malakar said no, he had actually hoped to sing Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.”

The show’s producers, though, squashed the idea: “American Idol” is sponsored by Ford.