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American Idol Season 7 Cuts to 8 Finalists
By Jeff | April 5, 2008
And then there were eight.
American Idol Season 7 held another elimination round for the remaining finalist on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008. We are now one contestant away from having all strong contestants. With the elimination of Ramiele Malubay, Kristy Lee Cook now holds the worst contestant remaining moniker and aside from another “God Bless the USA” performance will be leaving sooner rather than later.
If you are keeping up with my contest with Jason of Pop Critics, Jason and I remained tied with both guessing incorrectly. We both had Ramiele as the worst performer (for like 3 weeks in a row now - maybe more) but thought the Filipino support would continue past this week. We were wrong and I’m not sure we’re that upset about it. Ramiele was highly over-matched so it was a good thing that she was finally eliminated.
Jason and I are still tied with a prediction record of 8-8 or 50%. It’s time to step up my game because I’ve been wrong for three weeks in a row and I’m getting tired of it. Luckily, while I may have lost my lead, I have not fallen behind. When only one leaves a week, it’s definitely becoming more difficult to predict the voting of millions. Here was my ranking for the performances of the 9 finalists just to refresh:
- Michael Johns - “It’s All Wrong”
- David Archuleta - “Smokey Mountain Memories”
- David Cook - “Little Sparrow”
- Carly Smithson - “Here You Come Again”
- Brooke White - “Jolene”
- Kristy Lee Cook - “Coat of Many Colors”
- Syesha Mercado - “I Will Always Love You”
- Jason Castro - “Travelin’ Thru”
- Ramiele Malubay - “Cross Your Mind”
My bottom three were Kristy, Syesha, and Jason. I didn’t actually expect Ramiele to be in the bottom three even though I felt she was easily the worst performance. I thought Ramiele’s Filipino support would last a little bit longer even though it was clear she had no where near the talent level of the other contestants. Well, I was wrong and that appears to becoming a trend. Anyway, let’s discuss my thoughts on the bottom three - which were Ramiele, Brooke, and Kristy.
Why Ramiele?
Hallelujah! Can I get a witness? That’s what I’m talking about. Finally, my disdain for Ramiele has been vindicated by the sooner than expected, but much deserved, elimination from Season 7 of American Idol. This has been several weeks in the making and has finally come to fruition. Glory be to my ears and my DVR for no longer having to waste my precious time with her performances.
I know. My wife has already said that I wasn’t very nice. When I was replaying the elimination show, I quickly stop the show before Ramiele sang her exit performance. I heard it the first time and it wasn’t that great then. So there was no point on my listening and watching it again. Ramiele left because her Filipino support was no longer enough to shadow the other contestants. We are now only one non-contender away from having an all strong cast. I would not be a bit surprised if Kristy Lee Cook exits next week.
Ramiele never truly connected to the audience in her performances. She’s cute. I’m sure she’s fun. She’s definitely over-emotional and that’s a huge turn-off. You can’t cry every week when someone leaves when you know someone is leaving. It’s a competition where the last one standing wins. If someone else leaves besides you, there is no reason to cry about it. Look at the bright side Ramiele, now you can go visit your other cry baby friend Danny Noriega and talk about the good times when you thought you had hope. Ramiele is gone because she did not possess near the talent level of any of the remaining contestants and really lasted several weeks longer than she should have.
Why not Kristy Lee Cook or Brooke White?
Kristy was my only correctly pegged contestant who found themselves in the bottom three so her participation was not a surprise. While Kristy was definitely in her element and may be able to get a country record deal out of it, it was clear that her talent level was far below the other contestants not named Ramiele. She knew it. She made a little note claiming “Kristy’s Seat” referring to the seats set aside for the bottom three. She has made several trips and has avoided elimination in each of them. Her lack of confidence is going to be her downfall real fast and barring an amazing performance next week, I would say she will be heading out the door soon. Kristy seemed uncomfortable performing; thus, preventing her from having fun and fully being engaged with the audience.
Like Simon, I knew that Brooke had no chance of going home last night. I was definitely surprised she was included in the bottom three however. I thought Jason would be there but both of those contestants gave middle of the road performances. No longer is a safe performance, a safe performance. Anything unspectacular can cause elimination with the amount of talent that is leading this competition. This was our second time in only four elimination rounds where all of the bottom three were females. I did say that Brooke has dropped out of my contender list this week and I guess others felt the same by putting her in the bottom three. I think she is talented and has a chance to rise back to the top but it’s time to step up the game. My belief that a male will win this year has been further validated.
The Remaining Finalists
- Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA
- Carly Smithson, San Diego, 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
- Syesha Mercado, 21, Miami, FL
Top 12 Eliminated Contestants
- Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL (04/02/08)
- Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA (3/26/08)
- Amanda Overmyer, 23, Mulberry, IN (3/19/08)
- David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, AZ (3/12/08)
It looks like we have another week or two left and all the non-contenders will be eliminated. There are still more contestants who I believe have no chance to win. I’ve kept no secret about my feelings for Ramiele. I’m ecstatic that Ramiele is gone because now I don’t have to guess as to whether she will have enough support or not. I feel that I can simply pick my worst performer and have confidence in that pick. I’ve already stated that I believe only three now have a legitimate shot at this point, so this season is up for grabs between the two Davids (Cook, Archuleta) and, Michael.
For a quick recap from a slightly different perspective, swing by American Idol 2008 Results - Top 8 Announced and see what Jason had to say about Ramiele getting eliminated.
American Idol Pick Off 2008: Jeff 8-8 Jason 8-8
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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 |
April 6th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I think it’s a little sad that they haven’t even performed this week yet and we’re already pretty sure Kristy Lee Cook will be the one to go. Who knows, maybe this will be the big upset week…
Jason A Clark’s last blog post..Battlestar Galactica recap: He that Believeth in Me
April 7th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I would be shocked if Kristy is not eliminated.