American Idol Elimination: Who's Going Home a Hero?

Top three will get the royal treatment this week when they visit their hometowns

Not all of the American Idol marbles were at stake tonight—but, still, there were plenty of marbles up for grabs, the biggest being the chance to be treated like royalty during the upcoming hometown visits.

Surely whoever finishes fourth gets plenty of positive attention when they return from whence they came, but...it's nothing like finishing in the Top Three, now is it?!

"At least I get to sit down," Phillip Phillips said good-naturedly after Ryan Seacrest put him through the usual review of last night's performance and then just sent him to the couch to "hang out," rather than give the final results.

But, not too surprisingly, the journey ended tonight for the adorably accented Hollie Cavanagh, who stumbled early on, but persevered to make it this far.

And deservingly so, when you factor in "The Climb," "Faithfully" and other tunes that she sang the heck out of. Sure enough, she chose "The Climb" as her swan song after learning it was her show to close.

Later this week, Chula Vista, Calif.; Westlake, La.; and Leesburg, Ga., will be giving heroes' welcomes to Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet and Phillip.