Shocker

Ah, the rollercoaster ride that is American Idol. It rarely ever goes the way that we expect it to go with respect to who gets booted out each week.

Probably the most interesting and memorable moments in AI history, apart from the best performances by the best contestants, are those times when someone completely undeserving gets voted off or when someone undeserving remains in the competition. In season one, Tamyra Gray got voted out after her only slightly bad performance of the season. This, after everyone expected her to get to the finale with Kelly Clarkson. Of course, season 3 had two of the biggest ‘upsets’ in AI history. The first one was halfway through the season when eventual winner Fantasia Barrino, Latoya London, and Jennifer Hudson all ended in the bottom 3 after spectacular performances, with Jennifer Hudson being voted off. I still say that the person who had the best performance in the week they got voted out was Jennifer Hudson (with her powerful rendition of Barry Mannilow’s ‘Weekend in New England’). Then later on in the season, Latoya got voted off while Jasmine Trias remained in the competition, causing the often-high Paula Abdul to bawl her eyes out as Latoya sang her last song of the competition.

It took a couple of expected eliminations (I never really liked Lisa Tucker and always felt she was overrated) before we finally got our first taste of real drama (Katharine McPhee's bottom 2 showing doesn't count) - Mandisa got voted off. Mandisa was definitely one of the strongest vocalists this season, but on country night, she put in a sub-par performance. The thing about great vocalists like her (and Latoya and Anwar Robinson from last season) is that their votes seem to come from people who vote based on performance, and this group rarely forms a solid fanbase. Which means that when a contestant puts in one performance that isn't as good as what they normally churn out, the votes for them tend to thin out (even just a little bit) and as such, they end up in trouble or even get booted out.

This means that one of my fave 6 has gone. There’s a chance that Ace and Bucky will disappear in the next two weeks. The only problem I have is that Kellie Pickler is one of only three people who have never been in the bottom 3, and I get this feeling she may make it terribly deep in this competition. I just hope that this week’s theme - Queen songs - will clearly display her lack of vocal capability (maybe Ace too). Too bad Mandisa isn’t in anymore. It would have been really interesting to see her attempt 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.