Season ten of “American Idol” is down to the wire, and that means that each upcoming elimination is going to carry emotional impact.
With only five contestants left, there was bound to be some disappointment. All but one contestant had reason to feel safe on Thursday’s results show, meaning that one of the bottom two vote-getters was in store for an emotional punch to the stomach.
That contestant, Lauren Alaina, simply could not hide her tears as she joined the more-expected Jacob Lusk in the bottom two.
And while it was Lusk, not Alaina, who ultimately waved goodbye to the competition, it was minutes of Lauren Alaina tears that made the biggest impact on Thursday’s show.
For Lauren, the emotional roller coaster began earlier in the episode. Setting up for “The Huff,” a dramatic results show stunt that asks the obviously-safe contestant to align himself with the other contestants he feels are safe (it was made famous in season three with George Huff incorrectly choosing Jennifer Hudson, La Toya London and Fantasia Barrino as the “safe” group), Ryan Seacrest began the process by calling James Durbin to one side of the stage and Lauren Alaina to the other. Aware she was not in frontrunner Durbin’s group, Alaina immediately looked concerned.
When, after the results show reached its breaking point, Ryan Seacrest asked the safe Scotty McCreery to join the Durbin group, which also included Wednesday’s standout Haley Reinhart, the tears began to fall. She would stand next to Jacob Lusk in the bottom two as Seacrest announced the eliminated contestant.
Luckily for her, Lusk’s “No Air” and “Love Hurts” were not strong enough to keep him in the competition, and he was sent home.
The final four–James, Haley, Lauren and Scotty–hit the stage next Wednesday.
