Ten American Idol contestants got a ticket to ride. Motorcycle enthusiast Amanda Overmyer was not one of them.
With her elimination Wednesday, the 23-year-old nurse missed automatic entrée into the American Idols Live tour lineup by one week after voters apparently tired of her Joplinesque vocals and signature 'do, no matter how proficiently she delivered.
But while fans were treated to an encore of "Back in the U.S.S.R.," as per Idol procedure, they never got to hear the ballad that Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell were so hoping lurked beneath the surface of Overmyer's rocker-chick exterior.
"It's been a run," the typically terse Indiana native said. "No. 11 out of all them people is more than I could expect."
(And, as it happens, VotefortheWorst.com has been right on the money so far this season, despite the fact that nobody seems to be taking its advice. After ironically championing also-rans Amy Davis and Danny Noriega, the site's most recent pick for so-bad-she's-awesome was Overmyer.)
America also went and stomped on Carly Smithson's metaphorical wings, apparently agreeing with Simon that her textured rendition of the broken-spirit-themed "Blackbird" was a bad choice and sending her into the bottom three for the first time.
Considering it was a pretty off choice, as far as the judges were concerned anyway, Smithson was ultimately saved and, perhaps thanks to negative viewer feedback, did not have to redo last night's song, as each person in danger of going home had to do last week.
And Overmyer's dismissal also means that Kristy Lee Cook won't have to hide her voice away for at least another week. To her credit, the unflappable 24-year-old, who sold one of her favorite horses to afford airfare to her Idol audition, keeps giving it her all on every performance—and she's had to weather some mighty tough criticism.
Unfortunately, her all doesn't equal, say, David Archuleta's all.
The second Beatles night of the competition proved to be the yin to last week's yang, with those who underwhelmed last week stepping up their games and the others who won raves only seven days ago taking a backseat to their fellow contestants' achievements.
Brooke White's awkwardness—she frankly copped to getting off to a bad start with that little dance—during her yellow-clad performance of "Here Comes the Sun" ("I'll Follow the Sun" would have been a better choice, don't you think?) didn't hurt the 24-year-old nanny one bit, as she became the first finalist to find out that, if nothing else, she's heading out on tour this summer.
Meanwhile, the preciously named Archies—Archuleta's loyal fan base—got plenty of sugar Tuesday from the 17-year-old phenom's melodic "Long and Winding Road," which Simon deemed "amazing."
"I couldn't believe that," the wide-eyed Archuleta, grinning ear to ear, said of Simon's compliment.
David Cook, however, rested on his laurels a bit with his rendition of "Day Tripper," as done by Whitesnake in 1978, and failed to impress the Brit who said last week that Cook was capable of winning the whole thing.
"You looked a bit smug throughout and I thought the vocoder in the middle was just stupid," Simon opined, referring to the voice synthesizer that, for about 15 seconds, made Cook's voice sound like a harmonica. (For the record, Paula and Randy dug it.)
Also in the top 10 are Ramiele Malubay, who "Should Have Known Better" than to pick a song that didn't show off her big voice; Chikezie, who tackled an actual harmonica during a schizoid take on "I've Just Seen a Face"; Michael Johns, who spent "A Day in the Life" of a contestant who the judges don't love (and Paula mistakenly attributed his pitch problems to the monitors in his ears—of which there were none); Jason Castro, whose mellow "Michelle" didn't really connect but who has the heart-melting eyes of your pet cocker spaniel; and Syesha Mercado, whose "Yesterday" ensured her a better tomorrow.
The evening also featured a performance by season-five finalist Kellie Pickler and a clip from Elliott Yamin and Fantasia Barrino's recent trip to Africa to visit with children who benefited from last year's Idol Gives Back charity special. This year's star-studded sequel takes place April 9, and Ellen DeGeneres has once again signed on to cohost the event.
Also on Wednesday, Ryan Seacrest announced that this season's confirmed celebrity mentors include Dolly Parton, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Next week, the 10 finalists will perform songs from the year they were born.