Ray Mickshaw / FOX.The contestants sing, the judges fight, the fans vote. Simple, right?
Not when all five X Factor contestants proved themselves worthy of a spot in the semifinals last night!
But one had to go. Josh Krajcik may have taken the most heat, with Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid positively ripping his first song, Rihanna's "Love in a Hopeless Place." Meanwhile, Chris Rene, oozing star quality from every pore as he rapped his original tune, "Where Do We Go From Here," was every judge's pick for highlight of the evening.
So, where did they go from there?
Well, Josh and Chris went right to the semifinals.
Both guys gave relieved, joyous fist-pumps as Steve Jones gave them the good news. And, though she had to wait for Mary J. Blige to sing before she joined them, Melanie Amaro ultimately found herself breathing a sigh of relief a bit later.
"It is brand-new," 13-year-old Rachel Crow acknowledged when Steve noted she was in the bottom two for the first time. "I'm OK. I'm going to sing it as best I can."
"And I love you, Marcus," she added, choking up a bit as she addressed her fellow contestant on the chopping block, Marcus Canty.
Marcus, an unfortunate bottom-two regular, once again brought out the big guns, and dared to sing "I'm Going Down," which Mary J. covered so successfully, while she was in the house!
But then little Rachel tore into Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind" with a vengeance, so much so that we could almost hear the bells tolling for Marcus in the background.
But after L.A. stood by his man and both Simon and Paula threw their hats in Rachel's corner, Nicole Scherzinger tearfully announced that she couldn't decide. She then half-heartedly voted for Marcus so that they would be forced to go to deadlock.
"Don't cry," Rachel soothed Nicole. "It's OK, I'm good with anything."
But then Steve announced that Rachel was going home, and she collapsed into tears and crumpled to the ground sobbing.
"Simon!" she cried, weeping hysterically. Her mom even came out to the stage to comfort her.
"Mommy, you promised!" Rachel screamed.
Never has a best-of-your-journey montage been so timely. A couple minutes later, she had composed herself and thanked all her fans.
"Without you, I am nothing," Rachel said, the voice of reason once again.
So, what did you think of that?!