Live at American Idol: What Did the Top 11 Think of Jermaine Jones' Shocking Exit?

"We didn't really find out until America found out. We were all really taken aback by it," Hollie Cavanaugh says of his disqualification

By Tierney Bricker Mar 15, 2012 4:20 AMTags
Jermaine Jones, American IdolFox

It was the disqualification seen 'round the world...literally!

Jermaine Jones, whose disqualification from the competition made headlines yesterday, exited American Idol in dramatic fashion on tonight's episode as he was shown being confronted by producers on-camera about his four outstanding criminals warrants, which he neglected to tell the show about. 

So when did Jermaine's fellow contestants learn of his disqualification? And what did host Ryan Seacrest tell the live audience before the show started? 

The remaining contestants found out why Jermaine was booted from the competition when America did!

"We didn't really find out until America found out. We were all really taken aback by it," Hollie Cavanaugh says of seeing Jermaine's interview with the producers that aired during the show. It's really sad and really unfortunate." Skylar Laine adds, "We were so surprised. We didn't know anything about it until tonight. They kept us in the dark."

Colton Dixon says the contestants had heard rumblings of what was going on, but didn't learn exactly what Jermaine did until the show. "We heard very briefly kind of what was going on last night, that he wasn't going to be continuing with us, but we didn't know why," he explains. "We found out when you guys did and all the details. I hate that for him. Everyone has a past and his just happened to be exposed. He handled it so well and I am so proud of him for that." 

Minutes before the show started, Seacrest grabbed a mic and briefly spoke about Jermaine's exit, saying, "[We have] a bunch of singing, a little bit of controversy. Unfortunately, we have to lose a contestant tonight, so we'll have to explain that."

MORE: Jermaine Jones Didn't See it Coming! Check Out His Pre-Exit Interview

Jermaine's fellow contestants wish him nothing but the best, with Erika Van Pelt saying, "It's shocking and it's confusing for us and it's emotional, but we're hoping that everything gets worked out at home for him. We're praying everyday for him."

"That hiccup doesn't define him," Elise Testone adds. "This is just part of his life. He's going to be fine. We're all very, very sad not to have him with us." 

Joshua Ledet, who was Jermaine's roommate, says, "It was devastating for us. We just knew something was up because he wasn't around." 

When asked what she'd miss most about Jermaine, Shannon Magrane says, "He's always been such a happy person. He's such a goofball. He always kept all of us laughing." Holly seconds Shannon's sentiment, adding, "He was always so funny."

MORE: Ousted Jeremy Rosado: "Jennifer Wanted To Keep Me!"

Switching gears a little bit, we also asked Phillip Phillips how he was doing after it was revealed he had to have surgery for kidney stones. "I got a little procedure done," he tells us. "I've just been resting a lot. Today I felt the best." Luckily, Phillip's roommate Heejun Han was there for support. "I've been taking care of him a lot," he says. 

Speaking of Heejun, he had some choice words for Randy Jackson, who said he had the worst performance of the night. "He could shove it up his ass!" Heejun jokes of Randy's comment. "No, I'm just kidding. It's a contest. We can't please everyone. Clearly, I couldn't please Randy. I have lots of stuff that I want to say Randy, too, like, "Today you are wearing something that's totally wrong for Wednesday.'"

As for Colton, who was called "pretty" by Jennifer Lopez, he said he "sure would like to think" that the judge was flirting with him. "That was a pretty cool moment onstage!"