SPOILERS: 'American Idol' Selects 3 More Finalists

LOS ANGELES — Thirteen turned out to be the lucky number for Anoop Desai on "American Idol." After announcing the three remaining finalists at the end of Thursday's wild card round, Simon Cowell announced that the much-loved 22-year-old college student from Chapel Hill, N.C., won a previously unannounced 13th spot in the next round of the popular Fox singing contest. In past seasons, 12 finalists were picked to move on.

"We decided _ recently _ we're going to make this a top 13," Cowell revealed.

The three other wild-card finalists were Jasmine Murray, the big-voiced 16-year-old high school student from Starkville, Miss.; Megan Corkrey, the quirky 22-year-old single mother from Sandy, Utah; and Matt Giraud, the soulful 23-year-old dueling piano player from Kalamazoo, Mich.

The previously dismissed foursome were selected by the show's judges.

Desai's last-minute selection wasn't the night's only seemingly unscripted moment. After oh-so-emotional semifinalist Tatiana Del Toro performed Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love For You," she kneeled and pleaded for a spot from the judges. Then, host Ryan Seacrest came on stage and told her she didn't have to get up off her knees.

"Family show, family show," judge Kara DioGuardi repeatedly proclaimed throughout the awkward moment.

Desai, Murray, Corkrey and Giraud join previously picked finalists Kris Allen, Danny Gokey, Alexis Grace, Allison Iraheta, Adam Lambert, Scott MacIntyre, Jorge Nunez, Lil Rounds and Michael Sarver. The 13 finalists will start competing next Tuesday _ with one singer sent packing each Wednesday.

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On the Net:

http://www.americanidol.com

Comments

[michie62]

they did not pick kid johnny lang's sister. what a sad commentary on such a stupid show.

[LeeChesnut]

Tatiyana? Really? TAIYANA??
Here are my comments: http://www.ryanseacrest.com/blog/americanidol/

[thundermummy]

Ju' Not (sp) got robbed.

[dajuice7]

Anyone not named Tatiana got robbed. : )

[fame]

He's not white or gay, Idol was having none of it.

[mlrlmsw]

Picking Tatiana was a joke. She has a voice, but her personality does not endear her to fellow contestants or the public. I think it's cruel to lead vulnerable people like her on just for some comic relief. She seems like she could lose it if she gets cut early, which I'm guessing she will. I thought Felicia or Jun'ot should have gotten a second chance. Then again, why do I care? :-)

[CAMBEL]

Just watch, they are going to put her through, this isn't a singing competition, it's a reality show and she is this years Sanjaya.

[Fletch17C]

Tatiana is going through no matter how well or poorly she sings in the wildcard round. I'm disgusted by it too, but we all know that it WILL happen. The others could sing brilliantly and she could stand up there and burp her way through the song, but the judges will let her move on anyway. It's already been decided.

The sad part is that she will be taking the spot of a more talented singer in the name of TV drama.

[fuzzyhearts]

I couldn't agree with you more. Picking Tatiana was a total ploy. And Felicia was by far my favorite. She was totally snubbed.

[obama4eva]

yes! felicia was my girl! she deserved it more that Crazy girl

[MayorMcFish]

I think you may be wrong on this. Tatiana will appeal to a) latinos, and b) gay men - she's a f*# hag if I've ever seen one!

She does have a voice, but the judges are also bringing her back (I suspect) for the 'comic relief' you referenced.

Either way, I hope she kills tonight and gets in - better chance for any of the women tonight, as the current roster is 6 men and 3 women.

[joselopez]

They should have given Arianna Asfar another chance to sing. she did well when she hit the highnotes on the ABBA song. It seems unfair they picked the Tatiana chick just because she is a train wreck. PS: I would have stopped watching the show all together if the failed to pick ANOOP. I believe he will do well if he gets into the finals. As a Puerto Rican myself, Good Luck to Jorge Nunez.

[MMJones]

She did very well last night in the Impulse Control department.

[slobone]

I still don't get this show. Why do people spend weeks watching the same mediocre talents over and over when there are hundreds of famous performers out there that you never get to see on live TV? I think that's the real reason they're not doing Idol Gives Back -- because the gap between the guest stars and the Idol kids was getting too embarrassing...

[MayorMcFish]

It's the 'train-wreck' mentality, the same mentality that makes people slam on their breaks on the street to see someone else's misery in an accident.

The allure, at least for me, is to see these contestants get slammed (or appraised) by the judges, to see how they perform under the stress of a live show (most famous performers are industry professionals and their shows and/or videos are structured and choreographed - not too much of an opportunity for a 'train wreck' unless of course, you're referring to a Amy Winehouse-type), and to see them grow or not, as performers.

[barackcan]

why because these contestants can actually sing. Most commercial pop singers can't hold a tune. They sound good because of the magic of a recording studio. Hate to say it but most of the singers you hear on the radio couldn't make it to the top twelve on American Idol with their actual singing voice. I know that sounds sad, but most singers are created by a bunch of music executives.

[rini]

These people sing such sugar coated smooth pop. I don't care that someone's vocal technique is just so. I care about self expression and individuality. To me, these AI people don't have star quality. They are not unusual characters. They don't awe me as an entire package. Sure, they can cover a song decently.

Give me David Byrne, Brandon Urie, Andrew VanWyngarden or Grace Jones over any AI finalist any day.

[MayorMcFish]

Whoo-hooo for Tatiana del Toro!

I'm sure a few of the other women were bummed out by her getting the pick, but hey...she was able to pull off a whitney houston song! Also it's obvious that her comment from 2 weeks ago, about her emotions getting the better of her ONLY in the audition round, was bogus. I don't care either way, I just love her energy and emotion!

The wild card women have a much better chance in my opinion then the men, seeing as the 9 chosen so far consist of 2x as many men than women. This year's format didn't demand that there be 6 men and 6 women in the top 12, but don't be surprised if the judges choose women for all 3 wild card contestants to even it out - definitely at least 2 of tonight's 3 will be women for sure.

My picks for tonight's 3 wild cards are...Anoop, Tatiana and Megan - Jessie or Jasmine will replace Tatiana if she can't pull out a show stopper tonight!

[MyThoughts2]

Pathetic that the judges picked "soulful sounding" white contestants in the wild card but didn't pick the black soul brother who sang with soul, not did they bring back Jamal /Jamar 9 another black guy) who has a fantastic soulful blues, folk voice. Most of the picks for the final 12 were average at best.

[Knowitall]

Ordinarily I would stay away from a comment like this, but I have to agree to some extent. I've been noticing for years that they rarely pick black men, even in the early rounds. And most of them get eliminated before the audience voting. But I don't think it's necessarily what you think it is.

A TV show is about ratings. They have to consider whether America will vote for a charismatic, soulful black male singer, in a competition against even mediocre white male singers. Sadly I believe the answer is "No." If people don't watch and don't vote, the show fails.

Also, I've noticed that the calibre of black male singers who are auditioning has gone down considerably. I know male singers in the church choir who sing better than anybody I've seen on the Idol stage. I don't think they want to take the time and pressure of being humiliated, eliminated and replaced with non- "singers" like Tatiana.

When picking the wild cards, Simon referred to Clay Aiken and Jennifer Hudson (who Simon famously said wasn't good enough for this "cumpatition"). But except for maybe 2 of the wild card picks, none of them have a snowballs chance of being the idol.

I will not be watching until Tatiana is gone. That woman's manipulative whining and crying causes my nerve endings to twitch, like fingernails on a blackboard. I just cannot take it anymore. Why? She won't be the idol. Why?

[Fletch17C]

Race aside, I thought Ju'not should have been given another shot in the wildcard round. Jorge was good in their group, but I thought Ju'not 's performance was more creative and I think he has more potential to do interesting things in the future.

I don't equate Tatiana with Sanjaya at all. Sanjaya may not have been a very good singer, but he was a pretty likeable guy. I also give him credit for taking it on the chin. The kid received some of the harshest comments from the judges in the show's history and not once did he ever lose his composure. That was pretty damn impressive. Needless to say, Tatiana could never handle that kind of pressure.

[MayorMcFish]

When there are soulful sounding black contestants that outshine the white contestants, those people ARE chosen. Just look back to the Top 10 from a few years ago...Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, George Huff and LaToya London were all finalists. This year we have a handicapped contestant, a Puerto Rican contestant, a black contestant, whatever Alison I. is, as well as a wide variety of white contestants. Wild card choices...a Puerto Rican, an African American and an Indian, as well as Megan and Ricky (who out-souled most black, white or blue in Holly-weird round).

Unfortunately, there weren't enough 'good' (soulful doesn't really matter here) contestants (white, black or blue) at all in this year's contest.

Race is NOT an issue - it's time to get over these types of unfounded race charges already, and join reality. I agree with all of their wild card choices, except I would have loved one more song by Norman Gentle (but is not in the same league as any of the others)

[fame]

This show hasn't let a black guy get close to winning in years.

[Steamboater]

One of the wild cards should have been Jackie Tohn; she's terrific and knows how to put a song over and very well too. Scott is there simply as a sympathy vote; he won't make it. Lil Rounds is magnificent but she sounds like so many of the others, cloned Arethas, whether male or female. Jorge is good but he hasn't got that star power. My bet is it will come down to Lil Rounds and Adam Lambert in the end, that is if Lambert can do away with the cheesy gold chains and Las Vegas kitchy look. The two of them are the most professional and are really polished, Lambert maybe too much so, but then TATIANA'S BACK! Drama for the sake of drama. Funny though because I like her voice; it's throaty and sexy but everything else about her is such a turnoff. If she can find who she is and stick to bluesy adult types of songs and not try and do everything all at once, she might surprise everyone and come up a winner.

[barackcan]

Checkout the Lee Chesnut blog on Ryanseacrest.com for great reviews of the contestants.

http://www.ryanseacrest.com/blog/americanidol

[CharlottesvilleVA]

Oh come on - Tatiana del Toro??? CLEARLY picked because of her melodrama. CLEARLY not picked because she's a good singer.

[keene]

Felicia Barton was robbed . She was one of the top ones out of the whole bunch of all 3 groups.

[fuzzyhearts]

+1

[obama4eva]

+2

[cruthenberg]

WOW!!! Is it me, or does anyone else realize Paula's messed up? This year of American Idol is RIDICULOUS!!!!! First of all, when they let Jamar go in Hollywood, I wanted to stop watching it. Now people are putting through the most ridiculous singers!!! Ju'Not Joyner was soooo good and he didn't even get put into the wild card. Come on!! All I can say is Allison and Lil Rounds better make it far, or I'm not watching American Idol anymore.

[LisaO8]

The guy that sang the Plain White T's song was fantastic - he definitely should have been in the Wild Card!

[moda31]

i hope anoop and ricky braddy get selected for the final 12.

[RJVegas]

Agree 100%!

[auramac]

The Wild Card round looks excrutiating. Thought the public wisely got rid of the real losers- looks like the judges picked some of the worst to return for ratings- including the obnoxious Drama Queen. There goes the credibility! This aint about the singing, after all...

[SCVADem]

Believe me, I said "WTF?!?" when the Heartless Drama Queen got picked over Felicia Barton.

[Scoop82]

I agree about Ju'not not being in the wildcard group. That is a joke. That was a goose bump performance. I dont blame the public for being musically tone deaf, but for the judges to allow this nonsense to happen makes it clear what this show has become.