“American Idol” waved goodbye to two finalists this week, bringing its first-ever Top 13 down to the standard 11 for week two.
Jasmine Murray, who sang “I’ll Be There” and Jorge Nunez, who sang “Never Can Say Goodbye,” were both cast off. While Megan Corkrey joined Jasmine and Anoop Desai joined Jorge for the results revelations, host Ryan Seacrest did not officially confirm that they were the lowest vote-getters of the eleven survivors.
In addition to revealing the eliminations, “Idol” also announced a new rule change–the judges now have the ability to save an eliminated contestant.
Touted as a way to avoid the seemingly annual “shock” eliminations that have involved surprise departures for contestants like Tamyra Gray, Jennifer Hudson, LaToya London, Chris Daughtry and Michael Johns, the judges now have the ability to void an elimination on a given results show.
The judges can only exercise the option once, and they can only do so prior to Top 5 week. Still, it could be a potential game-changer for the show by assuring that a frontrunner does not depart prior to the late stages of the competition.