Bye Bye Sanjaya

Wednesday's elimination show started with Ryan stating, "Last night we went country and the country came back with the response. Is YOUR favorite safe?"

Then, the Fox producers had to do some clean-up from Tuesday night. Simon explained exactly what went down, that he did NOT roll his eyes at the comment, but was still discussing the whole nasal congestion problem with Paula. And then, he actually choked up when he told America, "I may not be the nicest person in the world, but I would never, ever disrespect the families or the victims and I felt it was important to set the record straight."

Okay, so Simon might not be the kindest, gentlest person in the world, but he is not most evil person either. And that is exactly what you would have to be to not be touched by the events of the past week in Virginia.

As further proof, they then ran the entire playback of Simon and Paula while doing a small picture in picture of the simultaneous Ryan and Chris exchange. It is very apparent that Simon’s only reaction was to the whole singing debate.

Next came THE. GROUP. SONG. I was watching with my Darling Husband, and was thinking to myself that I really liked the song. He spoke up and said, "This song is really bad." What????? I was totally enjoying it, and really liking it. The kids were actually enjoyable this evening singing I’m All Right.

Ryan finally, 30 minutes later, got to the elimination. The three contestants getting the lowest amount of votes were finally singled out: Blake, Lakisha, and Sanjaya! Blake, however, was deemed SAFE and returned to the safety of the cushions to think about why he wore an argyle vest on country night and to make a mental note to himself: Incorporate lots of beatboxing next week.

Ryan quickly recapped Kiki and Sanjaya, and after the biggest top 7 vote in Idol history – over 38 million phoned in – he spoke the words we have all longed to hear: "Sanjaya, you are going home tonight."

I personally was so relieved because I changed my vote to "Sanjaya going home" at 4:57pm. It's all about me and my vote, sorry Sanjaya. He was emotional and Lakisha played mom and held him tightly as they began rolling his Idol journey video. He must have been crying. As he began watching it, he really did cry, which reminded me that he is just 17!!! I don’t want to see a Sanjaya CD anytime soon, but I am waiting for his next show-biz move. He is a household name now! As Ryan so perfectly put it, Sanjaya "We won’t soon forget you."
Sanjaya took the mike one last time and reprised Let’s Give Them Something To Talk About, and good for him, he changed the last line to "Other than hair, hair, hair?"

Hmmm.... so I'm wondering who the VFTW people will adopt next?

Maybe we can just concentrate on the GOOD SINGING now.