From Anna David, Foxnews.com

Say what you will about the “American Idol” scandals — that they’re over-hyped, under-handled or simply too frequent — but you’ve got to admit that they do impact the voting public.

While I’m not certain what kind of a connection there is between having a good voice and partaking in risqué behavior that can’t seem to stay buried in anyone’s closet, you can rest assured that each new season will bring with it another scandal or two.

This year, we had David Hernandez — in particular the discovery that he had worked as a stripper at an Arizona club for three years. While nary a word of this was mentioned on the show (on Tuesday night, in fact, we listened to Hernandez talking about how he worked in a pizza bistro pre-”Idol”), audiences apparently didn’t really subscribe to the if-you-don’t-mention-it-we-can-pretend-it’s-not-there philosophy, and the Arizona State University student was sent packing on Wednesday.

Oh, I know this is a singing competition, not a popularity contest. And sure, you could say that his performance of “I Saw Her Standing There” was, as Simon said, “corny verging on desperate.” But this is a guy who was one of the frontrunners a few short weeks ago, and he easily blew Kristy Lee Cook out of the water on Tuesday. I say America couldn’t quite handle the extracurricular activities in this case.

 

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From Anna David, Foxnews.com

We’re down to the Top 12 on “American Idol,” which means that battles aplenty are waging. As far as I’m concerned, we can break them down into six main struggles:

Ryan vs. Simon: Our “Idol” boys are back at it again, which means that they’re either back to their verbal warfare because they actually dislike each other or back to their verbal warfare in order to make it look like they dislike each other.

This meant that there were plenty of sharp words between the two during Tuesday night’s show, including one moment where Simon told Ryan to be careful and Ryan cleverly tossed out the fact that Simon only says that when he doesn’t have a snappy retort. Since Simon tends to win any verbal battle he ever engages in, it was nice to see Ryan take the lead.

(Winner: Ryan, but not for very long; Simon’s destined to come out on top.)

 

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From Anna David, Fox News

While I know that the 36 million people who voted on “American Idol” this week didn’t make their selections solely to please me, I must say that I had the all-too-unfamiliar sensation of feeling that they had.

Once we got through the beginning of the show (a terribly unexciting number about “letting you go” from our favorite beat boxer Blake Lewis, the news that Paula’s new single is somehow number one on iTunes and Simon’s inability to congratulate his fellow judge on such a feat), it was elimination time.

Ryan started off slowly, informing David Cook in a move straight out of Randy Jackson’s repertoire that he’d spoken to Lionel Richie that day and the crooner had “loved” Cook’s performance. Cook was, of course, safe. David Archuleta was also, of course, safe (our boy wonder was a bit under-featured on the show, but when we saw him, he was all dimpled cuteness). Jason Castro was also in.

 

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From Craig Berman

The theme was ’80s music, and the question of the week for the eight male semifinalists was to name their most embarrassing moment. Considering one headline-making story, the setup seemed too good to be true.

David Hernandez has made news this week in a way he’d probably prefer to forget, as word of his previous career as a stripper raised some Internet buzz about his future on the show. The producers decided to keep him around, but he had to be nervous that the judges would try and get him out the old-fashioned way — by trashing him to the point where America would send him home.

But Hernandez chose not to cite anything from his stripper days as embarrassing, which at this stage is probably the smart move. And if he gets sent home this week, it will be strictly up to viewers, because the judges loved his performance of “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” a song made popular by Meat Loaf.

 

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from Eric Carlson

NEW YORK(AP) Four more aspiring singers failed to convince viewers that they have what it takes to win the star-making talent contest “American Idol.”

The voting public cut loose Alaina Whitaker, Jason Yeager, Robbie Carrico and Alexandrea Lushington, trimming the number of contestants to 16 Thursday night.

Whitaker, a 16-year-old from Tulsa, Okla., let out a sob after she heard the result.

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