Michael Becker / FOXWho's movin' out of the hotel and into the American Idol mansion in the Hollywood Hills?
Nine hopefuls remain after Thursday's elimination, which we assumed was going to fall on the contestant who had the least success interpreting a Billy Joel tune last night.
But first, we found out something that warmed our hearts...
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry still love each other!
Though Perry and the rest of Aerosmith supposedly thumbed their noses at Steven's decision to join Idol, the guitarist showed up to play "Happy Birthday" and give his longtime bandmate a big hug in honor of his 64th birthday (which is actually on Monday)—and then joined the panel as judge No. 4 for the night!
"I'm a Rip Van Winkle, I've been told, I'm much too young to be this old!" Steven exclaimed.
Erika Van Pelt was unsurprisingly in the bottom three—she did a great job, but she also went second and was eclipsed by so many memorable performances later in the night. And, as we predicted, Deandre Brackensick and Heejun Han, he of the "My Life" stunt that Jimmy Iovine compared to an "Adam Sandler movie that went straight to DVD," were also in trouble.
But it turned out that some people like a comedian, because Heejun was safe and Erika was eliminated from the competition.
Last night's take on "New York State of Mind" was more save-worthy than what she chose tonight, Whitney Houston's "I Believe in You and Me," but either way, the judges obviously did't see the 26-year-old deejay winning the whole competition if they kept her around.
Her ouster was a bummer, but you know what's worse? Heejun promised "something crazier" was coming next week if he were to stick around.
Gee, neat.
Do you think the right hopeful went home tonight? Sound off in the comments!