I was pleased that tonight’s elimination actually went along pretty quickly. Sometimes the elimination nights just seem to drag on tonight. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case tonight.

The night started with the group performing “Stuck in the Middle With You”. That was pretty much as you expect the group performances to be.

LaKisha Jones and Blake Lewish were then called to the stage. Both made it through.

Chris Sligh was called down. After making him wait through the commercial, he made it through. Then Jordin Sparks and Phil Stacey made it through.

Jared Cotter was the first to go home. I liked Jared, but I never quite “got” him. I thought it was unlikely that he and Brandon would both make it through, but I had actually picked him over Brandon.

Melinda Doolittle and Brandon Rogers were then put through to the Final 12 (so I don’t have to move to Canada), followed by Gina Glocksen and Chris Richardson.

The final 6 awaiting their fate had to wait for Carrie Underwood to be introduced and to sing. She’s really quite good. I liked her on Idol, but she wasn’t my favorite to win. Actually, she wasn’t even my second favorite to win. But it’s nice that she’s doing so well.

After Carrie’s performance, Antonella Barba and Stephanie Edwards were called to the stage. I thought this one could have gone either way. I mean, out of the two I certainly thought Stephanie would make it through, but you just never know. This time American got it right, and Stephanie made it to the Top 12.

Then Haley Scarnato was called to the stage with Sabrina Sloan. A no brainer, right? Sabrina’s in the Top 12. Not so fast. This one was a surprise. Sabrina went home, and Haley is in the Top 12. The judges were disappointed with America’s choice– Randy actually said “America got that wrong”. I actually thought that Simon’s comments to Haley last night probably helped her make it through. In the past, there has been a noted Simon backlash MANY times when Simon has been overly harsh to contestants. I actually have a theory that he does it intentionally to pretty girls that he wants to see one more time.

Ryan finally told us about the big surprise. The short version is there will be an empasis on poverty in America and in Africa and some fundraising that will occur later this season. I’ll be writing a full post on “Idol Gives Back” tomorrow with more details.

Finally, that left Sanjaya Malakar and Sundance Head. As much as I wanted to see Sundance move on, and as much as I thought Sanjaya should have gone home weeks ago, I thought this was probably bad news. They don’t save you until last if it’s a foregone conclusion that you’re going home. Sure enough, Sanjaya is in the Top 12, and Sundance is going home. Prior to this, I thought Haley would be going home next week. Now I have to hope for Sanjaya. Simon could only guess that the reason America chose Sanjaya was because the volume was turned down. Yes, he actually said that.

So, that means American Idol 6 has its Top 12:

LaKisha Jones
Blake Lewis
Chris Sligh
Jordin Sparks
Phil Stacey
Melinda Doolittle
Brandon Rogers
Gina Glocksen
Chris Richardson
Stephanie Edwards
Haley Scarnato
Sanjaya Malakar

What do you think? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

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