Frank Micelotta / FOXGood news or bad, we knew Tatiana Del Toro was going to be an emotional wreck.
She didn't disappoint on that front. But we bet thousands of fans ended up pretty bummed anyway as the results started rolling in—there's always a favorite who doesn't make it through.
In what may be the most intriguing of the stalwart series' season-eight format changes (certainly more intriguing than the addition of a fourth judge, anyway), the top guy and girl from last night's performance show—along with the next-highest vote getter—were admitted into American Idol's Top 12 Wednesday.
Also an improvement—instead of making the castoffs relive their low points, the trio who advanced provided the encore performances.
But for the real twist, check out who advanced, contrary to what our commenters predicted...
The fans seemed to love Anoop Desai, but about 20,000 more of the 24 million votes cast landed in Michael Sarver's camp instead.
The 27-year-old oil-rig roughneck defied judges' expectations by winning a spot in the Top 12 with his karaoke-ready rendition of Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Wanna Be."
But don't count out Anoop Dogg just yet. He might not have to wake up from his present dream if he was the third-place finisher among the guys last night, or if the judges select him to compete in the March 5 Wild Card sing-off—and there's a very good possibility of that, considering how much they like him.
Meanwhile, last night's standouts, Alexis Grace, 21, and Danny Gokey, 28, sailed on through to the promised land.
Trying to milk the (lack of) suspense for all it was worth, Ryan Seacrest trotted out Danny and Tatiana at the same time, making us wonder for a second whether the front-runner was about to fall victim to the "I don't need to vote for him because everyone else is going to" trap. He didn't, though. Tatiana looked as if she was about to pass out but, like Anoop, there could be another last chance in her future.
The next group of 12—Megan Corkrey, Kris Allen, Mishavonna Henson, Matt Breitzke, Allison Iraheta, Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray, Kai Kalama, Jesse Langseth, Adam Lambert, Jeanine Vailes and Nick Mitchell—performs next Wednesday.
(Originally published Feb. 18, 2009 at 6:50 p.m. PT)