Idol Chatter & Voice Views

OK, Ryan wasn’t kidding at the beginning of last night’s show. That was a bit of a shock.

I mean, I had Alexis Grace’s performance of “Jolene” graded as the worst of all 11 Tuesday night.

But I really thought the 4-foot-11 blonde dynamo would have enough appeal with voters to survive one poor performance.

Obviously, that wasn’t the case, which should serve notice on the rest of the performers.

One slip, and you might be gone.

So, as the judges would say, choose your songs wisely. “Jolene” was not a good fit for Alexis.

And while I sorta like this new judges’ save, I had to feel for her as she was forced to sing the song a second time as the four judges huddled together to discuss her fate.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone heard about the schedule change for next week. Idol will be on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

And it will apparently be Motown Week, which is going to be a much better fit for this group than country week.

Wonder what Adam will come up with next?

Here’s the results recap.

Deserved her fate: Based on that performance alone, yeah, Alexis deserved to be eliminated. Based on her overall performance to date … I can see why the judges were at least tempted to use the save.

Very, very lucky: No, I am not going to put Adam Lambert here. Many people, including Simon, were not enthralled by his “Ring of Fire” performance. But he has people talking. I still think he’s this year’s favorite. My choice for this spot is Scott MacIntyre, who continues to slip by on mediocre vocals. He was my choice for elimination this week. Turns out he wasn’t even in the bottom three.

On the bubble: Michael Sarver wound up in the bottom two after what I thought was a decent performance Tuesday night. It can’t be much comfort to Michael to know he wouldn’t have been considered for a judges’ save. And here comes a theme week that might prove difficult for him. Country week was a good fit for Michael, and he barely squeaked into the top 10.

Stock rising: A week ago, Simon said he regretted seeing the final 12 expanded to 13 to include Anoop Desai. This week, Anoop proved he belonged. And with his fan base, he might be around for a good while. Matt Giraud also turned in his strongest performance to date on Grand Ole Opry week. I never would have predicted those outcomes.

Stock sinking: Apparently Allison Iraheta, though I’m baffled as to why. Isn’t anyone voting for the female contestants this year? The bottom three? Are you kidding me? She deserved better after a spunky performance of “Blame It On Your Heart.” If fans don’t wake up, we’re going to be left with Adam, Lil and a bunch of clones in the second half of this season.

Coming tomorrow: An exit interview with Alexis Grace.

Coming early next week: New rankings for the 10 remaining contestants.