. . . and Then There Were Ten

The show opened with the announcements about who the mentors would be this year. . . I’m a little scared. Dolly Parton, Mariah Carey, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Neil Diamond will be spending time with the contestants sharing their vast knowledge. I’m not sure how much of a help Mariah Carey’s going to be. . .

Ryan also announced the songwriter competition, which I had totally forgotten about. Then, as my daughter, Krista, pointed out, Ryan pulled a “Heidi Klum” and announced “the votes are in and someone will be out”. For the rest of the night, I kept hearing Heidi proclaim “yaw in” every time Ryan directed someone to the sofas!!

The big part of this particular episode was that ONLY THE TOP TEN GO ON TOUR. I think that really sucks!! You wait for hours/days for an audition, you get sent ahead, you end up in Hollywood, you endure THAT nightmare, you make the top 24, more emotional turmoil, you end up in the top 12, go to the big stage and two songs later you end up NOT going on tour. And, it seems like every year someone like Kristy Lee (Sanjaya, Jasmine Trias) ends up in the top 10 (and on tour) for some unknown reason and another more talented contestant gets left behind. Maybe they should change it to the top eight or six go on tour. . . anything to keep the Kristy Lee’s and Sanjaya’s off the tour!!!

Ryan didn’t waste any time in bringing contestants onstage, one at a time, and giving the results.

Brook was rather quickly declared “safe”. Then, out came Carly, who he announced to MY surprise as being voted in the bottom 3. This year’s shocker!! Shades of the Daughtry fiasco!! Poor Carly was relegated to the tractor-seat chairs, barely able to contain her tears.

David Archuleta and Michael each came out and were sent to the safety of the sofas, no surprises there.

Next came the making of this week’s Ford video, which I didn’t hate (either the making of or the video). It was really cute!

David C. came out and got his “safe” pronouncement, then Kristy Lee was sent to the chairs with Carly.

Jason and Ramiele were declared “safe” --- a little surprised that Ramiele made it, but then reminded myself about the power of the Filipino vote (what kept Jasmine Trias on so long – Season 4).

The new segment, questions from the viewers came next. Boring, although this week Ryan didn’t blatantly ignore questions from the folks over 25.

Kelly Pickler’s guest appearance was next. I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would --- she was rather pixie-cute and those new boobs didn’t intrude on her performance too much!!

Ryan reminded us all about “Idol Gives Back” and showed a short clip of Fantasia and Elliott distributing mosquito nets (purchased with the $76 million that was donated last year). Fantasia was asked to sing by some of the townspeople where they were visiting and Elliott had a baby named after him, which brought him to tears. Nice segment.

Syesha marched out next to be sent to the safety sofa, then Chikezie and Amanda came out together. Chikizie was told “yaw in” and Amanda was told she also was voted in the bottom 3 --- another shocker for me.

Carly was declared “safe”, Kristy “safe” and Amanda was told “yaw out”. HUGE surprise (you could have heard my exclamation in the next county --- if you did, I’m apologizing right here). No way did I think Amanda would go home sooner than Kristy Lee.

I’ll be working up my courage all week to be able to listen to another of her performances, but I hope against hope that she’ll go home next week.

AND that the voting public comes to their senses --- Carly in the bottom 3??? Are you nuts??