Celebrities Gossip

Now that American Idol judges can “save” one contestant that would have otherwise been booted, the show’s producers can speed through 90 percent of the results and draw out the agonizing “will they or won’t they save the contestant?” debate with sadistic slowness. We were reminded of the suspense from the moment the show started last night (”In my hand, I have the results that may shock you,” Ryan Seacrest warned) and until Alexis Grace opened her mouth to sing again, it seemed plausible the judges would use their one unanimous save on the contestant Simon had called a “dark horse” of Season Eight.

But, let’s go back to the beginning of the results show. After Ryan’s ominous opening, we got the usual clip package of Tuesday’s performances. Then the top 11 launched into Elvis’ “Trouble” — deemed appropriate for Grand Ole Opry week because Opry member Travis Tritt covered it, natch. The plus: the judges decide to have Scott MacIntrye play piano (intentionally or unintentionally feeding into Paula’s “Scott, your piano is becoming a crutch” comment from Tuesday?), which eliminates any awkward choreographing situations. The minus: the horrific lip-syncing is making these numbers even more painful than the Ford music commercials.

Last night we also got a new pre-taped package that took us behind the scenes after last week’s results show. And then, finally … the results. Danny Gokey, Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai were safe, safe, safe. Allison Iraheta and Michael Garver were told one of them is in the bottom, and Paula picked Allison. Ryan confirmed Allison was in the bottom, but then told Michael he was in the bottom three, too (in the words of Stephanie Tanner, “how rude!”).

The hyper-speed continued after Brad Paisley performed “Then”; in a matter of seconds we found out Scott MacIntyre, Megan Joy, Matt Giraud and Kris Allen were also all safe and ultimately Adam Lambert moved to the Top 10 and Alexis Grace joined the bottom three. Allison headed back to safety almost immediately leaving Alexis and Michael in the bottom — the “shocking” results Ryan promised.

Finally, after former Idol winner new hair Carrie Underwood duetted with Randy Travis on “I Told You So,” the promised drama played out: Simon admitted the judges would consider saving one of the bottom two this week. Ryan revealed Alexis received the fewest of the more than 31 million votes cast, and Simon asked Alexis to sing again. But the dreadful arrangement of “Jolene” didn’t get any better and Alexis, overwhelmed by nerves, sounded worse than she did on Tuesday. The judges ultimately booted her, leaving the judges’ save in tact.

Next week, the Top 10 (who will be heading to a venue near you on this summer’s Idol tour), tackle Motown and President Obama’s Tuesday night speech will bump Idol to Wednesday and Thursday. Was Alexis rightfully eliminated? Is it wrong to sing the song that got you booted when you’re fighting for your spot? Sound off in the comments.