Didi Benami -- who maintained her dignity on Tuesday when Ryan Seacrest tried to mine her personal life for TV fodder -- said goodbye on American Idol Wednesday. As predicted, the bottom four was Siobhan Magnus, Katie Stevens, Tim Urban and Didi Benami.
Siobhan was safe and the rest were in the bottom three. Then Katie was safe, leaving the ever-smiling Tim and the ever-tearful Didi, with Didi receiving the least amount of votes and going home. The judges, of course, didn't use their save, which might have come into play for Katie and definitely would for Siobhan.
This season was touted as the year for the gals, but the men have proven far more consistent. Three of the bottom four were women and only the faltering Siobhan could be joining Crystal Bowersox in the top four. Numerous men are contenders, from Aaron Kelly to Michael Lynche to Casey James to Lee Dewyze.
The show began with a tie-in to Clash Of The Titans, a silly cross-over trailer that paid off when Zeus (Liam Neeson) said the catch-phrase "Release the Kraken" and they cut to scenes of Simon eviscerating contestants.
Thankfully, the show mirrored my advice and skipped the horrid lip-sync performances and stuck with the Ford Focus commercials, this time to the tune of "Kung Fu Fighting" (which is perfect for Tim)! I have to admit, the ads have been tolerably amusing this season.
Ruben Studdard was fine with his boilerplate r&b, looking slim and telling Ryan about his upcoming tour with Clay Aiken. Usher gave a killer performance of his new single...if he were appearing on So You Think You Can Dance. While his moves were very good, his singing was so-so (often difficult to do when delivering an elaborate routine). And I couldn't really follow Sean Combs' performance because my head was still reeling from the fact that he'd changed his moniker again from Diddy to Diddy Dirty Money (complete with new logo). Maybe I'm late to this, but I had to laugh. On the other hand, it was interesting to hear Combs say that he was nervous appearing on the Idol stage. Humble isn't exactly his thing so I'll take him at his word.
Didi was sent home after singing Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)" again, which Simon politely said was far better than her performance the night before. Would it kill the judges to simply say, "This is the end of the road; congratulations on making the Top 10 and going on the tour" instead of just awkwardly blurting out that they're not going to save her?
I doubt many people will argue Didi should have been saved. That would only make sense if you believed she were destined to make the finale and voters had made a tragic mistake. But what about the contenders? Who do you see in the final four and the finale right now?
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