Palin, daughter of Tea Party favorite and former Alaska Republican Governor Sarah Palin, has made it to the finals of the top-rated US TV program despite a season of low scores, raising the ire of many of the program's loyal fans.

One Wisconsin man was so angered by Palin's advancement last week that he fired at his TV with a shotgun, fueling a 15-hour standoff with police, authorities said. Late on Friday, the program's producers received an envelope containing a white substance that set off warning bells of an anthrax scare. Police and fire officials determined it was talcum powder. Several media reports, citing unidentified sources, said the envelope was addressed to Palin.

But officials at the ABC television network, which airs the program seen by nearly 20 million viewers weekly, issued a statement saying it was delivered to the show's production office.