Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Well, got that one wrong.

Somehow, Kristy Lee Cook survived a horrendous country version of “Eight Days a Week.” Somehow, she survived Simon’s “Dolly Parton on helium” comment.

Gotta give the young lady this: She took it all in stride. First, she asked for the mic, figuring she’d be in the bottom three. Then she apologized to the judges for having to put them through another rendition of the song.

Instead, David Hernandez goes home. Oh, well, he was the weakest of the remaining guys. And the judges were dead-on when they called his performance of “I Saw Her Standing There” a wee bit overblown.

But was his performance the worst of the final 12? Or did he suffer from the controversy that’s dogged him throughout the competition?

Regardless, we’re down to 11.

This week’s rankings, in order of predicted finish …

1. David Archuleta: He stays here, but he sure looks a lot less invincible than a week ago after that Tuesday night disaster.

2. Brooke White: I’ll be downloading her rendition of “Let It Be,” if I ever get iTunes working properly on my home computer. That marks three straight dazzling performances.

3. David Cook: with a big jump all the way from number seven. Simon got it right. If this season’s Idol comes down to talent and not a popularity contest, this guy just might win.

4. Carly Smithson: Takes a deserved tumble. Sorry, if you’re going to be the ringer in an amateur competition, you’d better shine. And that performance of “Come Together” got better reviews from the judges than it deserved.

5. Michael Johns: Still has the Idol look. Still hasn’t delivered the big-time performance.

6. Jason Castro: Has the likability factor on his side, but will have a sing a whole lot better than he did this week to finish much higher.

7. Syesha Mercado: Needs to do something to stand out. How she wound up in the bottom three this week baffles me. Behind garbled Amanda? Behind that tepid performance from Ramiele? Come on, voters. Get a clue.

8. Chikezie: Seemed to find his niche Tuesday night with a truly fun-loving performance. If he keeps doing that, he could hang around longer than expected.

9. Amanda Overmyer: She’s been adopted as the poster girl for votefortheworst.com. Wonder how many votes that’s worth? Could it help her survive a couple more weeks of bad Janis impersonations?

10. Kristy Lee Cook: She just might bounce back a little next week. Couldn’t get any worse, right? But she still isn’t in this for long.

11. Ramiele Mulabay: Sparkled in week one of the preliminaries and hasn’t sparkled since. Could be doomed if she doesn’t pull it together next week. She deserved a bottom three finish this week and somehow escaped.