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American Idol Season 7 Cuts to 11 Finalists
By Jeff | March 14, 2008
***Disclaimer - I know this is a little late, but my new addition has kept me busy. I did give Jason my pick for elimination and he blogged about it to verify. It happens and I apologize, but I can’t say it won’t happen again. However, I do promise that Jason will know my elimination pick in time whether I get it posted or not. Thanks for your support.
American Idol Season 7 held their first elimination round for the 12 Finalist on Thursday, March 12th, 2008. Now we are down to the point of the show where only one contestant gets eliminated at a time so the margin for error has decreased significantly.
If you are keeping up with my contest with Jason of Pop Critics, then you know that we were tied once again heading into this week. Both of us held a 7 - 5 record or 58.3% accuracy rating.
Jason decided to go with Ramiele as the elimination victim while I reasoned that David Hernandez would get the ax. As I’m sure you know by now, David Hernandez was indeed eliminated and my one contestant lead was regained.
Jason is now 7-6 (53.8%) and I am at 8-5 (61.5%). I am a highly competitive individual and I don’t intend to relinquish my lead again. Next week will give me a chance to increase me lead if things go my way. Here is my ranking again just to refresh:
- David Cook - “Eleanor Rigbyâ€
- Chikezie - “She’s a Womanâ€
- Brooke White - “Let It Beâ€
- Carly Smithson - “Come Togetherâ€
- Jason Castro - “If I Fellâ€
- Michael Johns - “Across the Universeâ€
- Syesha Mercado - “Got to Get You Into My Lifeâ€
- Amanda Overmyer - “You Can’t Do Thatâ€
- Kristy Lee Cook - “Eight Days a Weekâ€
- Ramiele Malubay - “In My Lifeâ€
- David Hernandez - “I Saw Her Standing Thereâ€
- David Archuleta - “We Can Work It Outâ€
My bottom three would have consisted of Kristy, Ramiele and David Hernandez. There is no way Archuleta would have been a part of that group even though I felt he gave the worst performance of the night. His fan support and popularity is enormous. Tony Kornheiser of ESPN’s PTI loves American Idol and seems to mention Archuleta’s name alot - and it’s a sports show. Like I’ve said before, teenage girls and their hot moms will make sure Archuleta remains on the show for quite some time whether they plan on buying his music or not. Fair or not, I don’t make the rules. I just call it like I see it.
Why David Hernandez?
I chose David for several reasons. First and foremost, his performance was awful. If it weren’t for my competition with Jason and this blog, I would have either muted him or changed the channel. I hated every second of it. No matter how great of a story you have, bad performances will not be overlooked for long. Asia’h had a great background story. Her father had passed away shortly before auditioning for the show, but a couple of bad renditions of Whitney Houston and she is at home on the couch watching the rest of the competition.
That being said, David didn’t really have a strong story anyway. The biggest story was his alleged involvement with a gay strip club. Regardless of the circumstances, America doesn’t really like their “Idols” to be involved in that activity - men or women. Being gay didn’t hurt him as much as working as a stripper. Of course, working as a stripper in a purportedly gay bar acted as a double whammy. Then the fact that America Idol or David never seemed to acknowledge that involvement made it worse.
David did not have a legitimate shot of winning in my estimation anyway, so his departure was imminent at some point. It might as well have been after an awful performance and increasing negative publicity. They say any publicity is good publicity, but in this case I’m going to have to disagree. But then, maybe something good will come out of it for David. We’ll see.
Why not Ramiele or Kristy Lee Cook?
Even though Kristy’s performance was awful and unbearable as well, I felt that since she was the only country style singer left, then die hard country Idol fans would give her votes just to keep the genre in the spotlight. Although, I’m not sure that I would call it a spotlight at this point - definitely not a highlight anyway. Maybe I was right about that and maybe not, but Kristy is still in it.
Ramiele is similar in nature. Her performance was boring and it put my family to sleep. We haven’t had much sleep with the new baby at home. Still, I didn’t sleep through any of the others. She has a beautiful voice but lacks life. She also has a ton of support from the Filipino nation. So at this point of the competition, I felt that she would still get enough votes to get by. In fact, she had enough votes to not even make the bottom three when she probably should have been but I’ll admit that is debatable.
The Remaining Finalists
- Amanda Overmyer, 23, Mulberry, IN
- Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA
- Carly Smithson, San Diego, CA
- Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA
- David Archuleta, 17, Murray, UT
- David Cook, 25, Tulsa, OK
- Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, TX
- Kristy Lee Cook, 24, Selma, OR
- Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles, CA
- Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL
- Syesha Mercado, 21, Miami, FL
Top 12 Eliminated Contestants
- David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, AZ (3/12/08)
The top 12 is where the real action starts because most of the non-contenders have been eliminated. There are still more contestants who have absolutely no chance to win that are still in, but their time will come shortly. I’ve already stated that only four have a legitimate shot at this point, but I wouldn’t have an issue with adding two more if things go perfectly for Carly or Jason. They are long shots but if they are smarter with their song selection than everybody else, I could see it happening. Otherwise, this season is up for grabs between Cook, Archuleta, Michael, and Brooke.
For a quick recap from a slightly different perspective, swing by American Idol 2008 Results - Top 11 Announced and see what Jason had to say about David Hernandez getting eliminated.
American Idol Pick Off 2008: Jeff 8-5 Jason 7-6
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Topics: american idol audition, american idol contestants cut, american idol girls, american idol guys, american idol judges, american idol season 7 |
March 14th, 2008 at 7:13 am
I definitely underestimated the Filipino support for Ramiele. I should have known better. Jasmine Trias from Season 3 was a mediocre singer and performer who was also Filipino and she made it all the way to #3. Of course, she was prettier so I thought that had something to do with it. I don’t think Ramiele will make it that far but her support may take her further than I had anticipated.
Jason A Clark’s last blog post..The ?Lost? Earth Mirror Matter Moon theory
March 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Anyway, we’ll see what happens. Sorry this was so late.