America, you are a fickle people. And, based on Michael Johns' elimination last night on American Idol, a pretty unforgiving people as well. Thanks to you, my Webmaster is still going through Kleenex like it's chocolate candy. My fear is that once she's done sobbing, she'll actually start going through the chocolate candy!
But last night's shocking AI elimination has been par for the course for the show over the years. So today I thought I would talk about the eliminations that have shocked me the most.
These eliminations are in the order that they occurred.
Jon Peter Lewis - Season 3
(NOTE: I couldn't find a decent video from Jon's American Idol performances to use, so below is the video of his most recent single, "Break the Silence".)
While Jon Peter Lewis was, and still is, my all-time favorite American Idol contestant, I never really expected him to win. But neither did I expect him to go home in 8th place! Come on, America! What the heck were you thinking? Granted, his performance of Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" was not his best by a long shot. And yes, he did forget a couple of the words during the song. But it wasn't the worst song of the night! He certainly didn't deserve to be sent home for it!
Jon Peter Lewis had yet to be in the Bottom 3 prior to this night, and I wasn't concerned about him being there at the time. As I told Jon when I interviewed him on the Idol Radio Show last year, I didn't stay home to watch the results show that night. It wasn't until the next day when I finally decided to see who had been eliminated that I saw it was JPL. Talk about a shock!
Shame on you, America!
Chris Daughtry - Season 5
Back during Season 5 of American Idol, there was a lot of talk amongst TheOfficialSoulPatrol.com members about who would be with Taylor Hicks in the Final 2. Based on the posts made at the time, I think about 90% of the people believed that Chris Daughtry would be in the Final 2 as well. While Chris' two Elvis Presley's songs that night weren't his best, they were still better than Elliott Yamin's and Katharine McPhee's performances.
As we were voting that night, we began to notice something strange. Dial Idol was showing that Chris Daughtry was in last place. Despite Dial Idol having been correct most of the season, we just felt there was no way they could be correct. Yet when we woke up the next morning, Dial Idol was confidently claiming that Chris would be the one to go home that night. And much to the surprise of the majority of the Soul Patrol, they were right.
The only reasoning for this travesty that I've ever been able to come up with is that too many Chris Daughtry fans thought Elliott Yamin was in danger of going home and, as a result, threw too many votes Elliott's way. But if that is true, then why did Elliott go home the very next week?
I just don't know what you were thinking, America.
Melinda Doolittle - Season 6
What was it about Melinda Doolittle's performance of Peggy Lee's I'm A Woman didn't scream "I BELONG IN THE TOP TWO PEOPLE" to you? Would it have helped if she had taken a frying pan to your head while singing the song?
For about three or four weeks prior to this night, many people were telling me that Melinda would make it to the Top 3 and then that would be it. As much as I would argue with them about it, deep in my heart I knew they were right. But it still came as a blow to me when Ryan told her that America had decided that this was the end of her journey on American Idol. This may be the closest I've ever come to actually crying over a contestant being sent home.
The Idol producers have admitted that they made a mistake in Season 6 by focusing too much on mentors each week instead of letting us get to know the contestants better. I can't help but wonder if Melinda would have won had we been allowed to get to know her a little better.
Oh, and ChuckRitt, Melinda does NOT look like she's 45 NOR does she look like Shrek! What the heck were you thinking?
Michael Johns - Season 7
It is no secret that I haven't been happy with many of Michael Johns' performances this season. As I've repeatedly said on my "Idol Radio Show: AI Edition" Internet radio show, Michael performs like he's the lead singer of a band even though there is no band on stage. In addition, some of his song choices have been questionnable at best.
But when Michael Johns got it right, like he did with Dolly Parton's It's All Wrong, But It's All Right as well as every Queen song he sang, he was deserving of a chance to take on David Archuleta in the finals. And the last two weeks he had shown us that he was in this race to win.
While Michael's performance of Aerosmith's Dream On had a lot of rough spots in it, there is no way it was bad enough to warrant being sent home. His performances the last couple of weeks should have been enough to keep him around to try and redeem himself next week. Not to mention the fact that he had yet to be in the Bottom 3.
He did not deserve to have this happen to him.
What were you thinking, America?????????
So what do you think of my all-time American Idol elimination shockers? What are some of your elimination shockers? Leave a comment and let me know.
Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Birmingham, Alabama
# posted by Alan @ 1:50 PM
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