Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Sometimes, it’s difficult to determine what’s real and what’s contrived on shows like The X Factor and American Idol.

But the mass confusion at the end of Thursday’s Top 11 elimination show came off as more real than most of the drama surrounding The X Factor judges.

Flash back to last night.  Dakota Rayne had performed its survival song … not all that well.  The Stereo Hogzz had performed its survival song … not all that well.  Probably a little worse.

L.A. Reid had voted to send the Stereo Hogzz home.

Nicole Scherzinger had voted to send the Stereo Hogzz home.

With two of her groups facing eliminaton for the second straight week, it was Paula Abdul’s turn to talk. 

Instead, she went into meltdown mode.

“I’m sorry,” she said, on the verge of tears. “I’m not going to do this. I can’t do this. I’m too close to both acts, and I love them very much.”

At one point, it looked like she might leave the judges’ table.

Simon Cowell said she was abstaining.  So host Steve Jones explained that the elimination would depend on the majority of the other judges’ votes.

Then, laughably, he told Simon he had the deciding vote.

Huh?  With only three judges voting and two already voting against Stereo Hogzz?

After a couple long seconds, Steve corrected himself.  If Paula wasn’t voting, he pointed out, the Stereo Hogzz were done.

Paula, apparently still not comprehending, told Simon: “You’re going to have to do this.”

It wasn’t until a little quiet counseling from Simon that Paula finally came to the realization that a non-vote really was the same as a vote against the Stereo Hogzz.

So she voted against Lakoda Rayne, truly turning the decision over to Simon, who then voted to eliminate the Stereo Hogzz.

Wow.  It’s the most important part of the whole show — who goes home last week.  And there was that much confusion?

A little reminder to the judges:  If your panel deadlocks, the low vote-getter for the week goes home.  If you truly don’t want to make a decision on ousting a group you mentor, judge cast a vote that makes a tie result possible so that the voters, not the judges, have the final decision.

That should be pretty easy to explain to the acts standing on stage, waiting to learn their fate.

Those acts spend lots of time rehearsing for their X Factor performances.

After last night, it appears the judges might want to get together and do a little practicing of their own.

Specifically, a review of elimination scenarios seems in order.