“American Idol” Eliminations Feature Huge Shocker

No elimination on “American Idol” is ever met with unanimous approval, but every once in a while comes a send-off that baffles the majority of viewers.

That was the case Thursday, in which “Idol” reduced the pack of sixteen remaining semifinalists to a total of twelve finalists. An argument could be made that none of the four contestants deserved to go, but there was one elimination in particular that sent shockwaves through the “Idol” community.

The controversial elimination refers to the dismissal of Lilly Scott, who many had viewed as Crystal Bowersox’s only true rival at the top of the female “Idol” pack. Scott’s quirkiness and odd song selection always put her at risk of appealing to the masses, but consistently strong reviews for her performances removed her from discussion regarding a likely elimination at this stage.

So when Scott was announced as being eliminated instead of Katie Stevens and Paige Miles, both of whom struggled significantly Tuesday night, the reaction was that “Idol” voters had made a mistake.

Katelyn Epperly was the other female eliminated from the competition. While Katelyn’s elimination was not shocking given her subpar showing Tuesday, it still came across as disappointing given the potential she showed on “The Scientist” last week.

On the male side, “Idol” waved goodbye to Todrick Hall and Alex Lambert. Though Hall scored strong reviews for his “Somebody to Love,” he never really seemed to click with the fanbase, so his elimination was at least reasonably predictable. Alex Lambert’s vocal tone had been touted as one of the best in the competition, but because his performance style was not the most exciting or inviting, he too had trouble generating a passionate fanbase.

While no one can objectively claim that Lambert was worse than a contestant like Andrew Garcia, who delivered the night’s worst performance on “Genie in a Bottle,” Lambert suffered from the standard, “it’s better to be bad and interesting than decent but forgettable.” Voters, perhaps fearing Garcia was in danger, opted to go for the contestant who they had been rooting for since the auditions, rather than the one who only emerged as a threat in the semifinal portion of the competition.