Four more contestants were eliminated as American Idol revealed the names of the hopefuls with the lowest number of votes for their Top20 performances. The theme for this week’s shows were music from the 70s. Thursday’s results show saw former Making The Band semifinalist Jason Yeager and Robbie Carrico leave the competition from the boys’ side while a somewhat shocker of an elimination had Alaina Whitaker and Alexandrea Lushington leave the  girls’ side. Interestingly, all four received minimal airtime prior to the semifinals week so they all came into the public voting round at a very big  disadvantage. Contestants who had a solid voting base due to the spin of the audition footage already have one foot in as far as reaching the final 12 – six guys and six girls— was concerned.

Jason Yeager sang the Doobie Brothers classic the ‘Long Train Running’ to luke warm reviews from both the judges and apparently, viewers and voters. Robbie Carrico from Florida didn’t do much better. His rendition of Foreigner’s ‘Hot Blooded’ wasn’t enough to save him for next week’s 80’s show.

Douglasville, Georgia’s Alexandrea Lushington languished with her performance of Chicago’s ‘If You Leave Me Now’ and finished with the least number of votes among the girls. Lushington competed alongside heavy favorite David  Archuleta way back in Star Search but unlike  the 17 year-old contestant from Utah, Alexandrea wasn’t given ample TV time to be able to share her backstory to America.

Alaina Whitaker of Tulsa, Oklahoma was eliminated after singing ‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’ by Olivia Newton-John. Whitaker broke down in the middle of her swan song and had to be consoled by the other contestants who survived the results show.

Next week, the remaining 16  contestants will sing songs from the 80s. The bottom two guys and bottom two girls will again be cut from the competition and the twelve who survive the cut will be this season’s finalist.

Still in the running are David Archuleta, David Cook, David Hernandez, Danny Noriega, Chikezie Eze, Michael Johns, Luke Menard and  Jason Castro for the guys. For the girls, Syesha Mercado, Ramiele Malubay, Carly Smithson, Brooke White, Amanda Overmyer, Asia’h Epperson, Kristy Lee Cook and Carly Smith still have a shot of becoming the American Idol.

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One Response

  1. Christopher

    29|Feb|2008

    I don’t agree with your assertion that Alexandrea Lushington got minimal airtime prior to the top 24. Granted we didn’t see much of her during the Hollywood rounds, but she got a long segment during her first audition, with Ryan schmoozing with her 1000 year old grandmother. The fact that nobody remembers her is part of her problem. If she had shown as much personality then as she did when she was eliminated she might still be around.


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