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Saved by the Boobs…

Bottom 3

Phil Stacey
Haley Scarnato
Gina Glocksen

Going home…

Gina Glocksen

Michael Buble performed “Call Me Irresponsible.”

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Tony Bennett has the sniffles and won’t be performing tonight.   That’s a shame, it would have been cool to have one of the last great old-school performers show the kids how it’s done.   Michael Buble steps in tonight to take his place.

This week’s Ford commercial goes green, featuring Kermit THE frog and Ford’s hybrid jeep.   Featured tune: “One Love.”

Ryan spills the details of the American Idol songwriters contest.   The winning song will be sung at the finale by this year’s American Idol.   More details can be found here.

Who will go home this week?   Ryan starts the process of elimination.   The kids are divided into  3 groups of 3.  Ãƒâ€š  Ryan explains that one group is the top 3, one is the middle 3 and the other is the bottom 3.  Of “what” exactly, Ryan never explains…

  

The group stage left is Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson  and Sanjaya Malakar.   In the middle are Haley Scarnato, Gina Glocksen  and Phil Stacey.   Ryan calls each contestant out one by one, but does not send any back to safety until he gets to the third group, Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle  and Lakisha Jones. After he calls them out he says, “As you know, this is where we take a break…normally…but not tonight!   You are all SAFE, have a seat.”

Ryan says “A lot of excitement tonight.”   But, as he walks by Haley, Gina and Phil, he says, “Not so much, here.”   Well, that’s obvious, considering the three likeliest contestants to be eliminated are all grouped together.

Ryan approaches Blake, Chris and Sanjaya and says, “You know you are not the top 3, but you are also not the bottom 3. You are safe…work a little bit harder for another week…congratulations, take a seat.

Haley, Gina and Phil are left on the stage.   Ryan says, “So America, that means this is your bottom 3 this week. But who is going home and who is safe?”   Gina and Phil are all smiles, while Haley looks really nervous.

Time for a break.

This week’s American Idol Challenge Winnah is in the audience.   She travelled to California all the way from Alaska to see this cheesy show.

This week’s question: “This American Idol finalist was jokingly referred to as ‘Chicken Little.’”   Was it, a. Kevin Covais, b. Bucky Covington, or c. Taylor Hicks.   Could these questions get any dumber?   Even Ryan acknowledges how dumb the questions are when he says, “I don’t come up with the questions.”

After explaining Tony Bennett’s absence, Ryan introduces Michael Buble, who delivers a snappy “Call Me Irresponsible.”

After the break, it’s time to find out who is going home.   Phil is declared safe, he goes back to the couches.   Haley and Gina are left on stage. Ryan asks the judges if they are surprised by the bottom 2.   Randy is surprised, particularly about Gina.   Paula mumbles a non-answer.   Simon is of course, not surprised.

Ryan says, “After the highest  votes, this season, just under 33 million votes, Haley….you are STAYING for another week…which means Gina LEAVES us tonight, on American Idol.”

Haley and Gina hug each other and cry.   Jordin is crying.   People in the audience are booing. Haley goes back to the couches. Ryan tells Gina she’s been a lot of fun and will be missed.  

After Gina’s goodbye package, she sings out, bittersweetly.   It’s a poignant moment.   Her singout of “Smile” with the fitting lyrics, “smile, though your heart is aching…” is  actually brilliant.   Goodbye Gina.

Like I said in last night’s recap, Gina suffered from never finding a truly authentic identity on Idol.   The judges kept pushing her to be “edgy”, and instead of just being herself, she kept trying to shoehorn herself into this character the producers had written for her.   She certainly should have outlasted Haley, but she probably would have left the show by week 6 in any case.   Next week’s elimination will probably be Haley or Phil, but in the world of Idol, stranger things can happen, and often do.