‘American Idol’: And The First One To Be Eliminated Is…

Carl Williott | March 9, 2012 6:30 am

The judges were forced to dash somebody’s hopes last night, and so we’re down to the dirty dozen, but only after performances by Mary J. Blige and Season 10 runner-up Lauren Alaina, plus a group-sing of Stevie Wonder’s “As”. And has anyone ever stood out during those ensemble performances the way Jermaine Jones does? You can’t NOT hear his crazy baritone, so dude better bring his A-game to all of those. But Wednesday night was not his A-game, and he found himself on the bottom along with Elise Testone, Shannon Magrane and Jeremy Rosado. Find out who the judges let go after the jump.

After an awkward Ford commercial music video in the style of The Rolling Stones’ “Love Is Strong” featuring the group singing Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time”, Ryan Seacrest started sending the bottom-dwellers to the dreaded Elimination Stools. To make them await their fates even longer, we first saw Lauren Alaina perform her frisky country song “Georgia Peaches.” And, wow, she showed these contestants a thing or two about stage presence as she worked the judges’ table and the crowd, and shimmied with the male contestants.

Lauren Alaina, “Georgia Peaches”

To the (first part) of the results! America, the judges and our recap were all largely on the same page. We love it when a plan comes together:

Top Nine Jessica Sanchez (Jimmy Iovine called Jessica’s performance Wednesday night the best he’d ever seen on Idol.) Hollie Cavanagh Colton Dixon Heejun Han Erika Van Pelt Skylar Laine Phillip Phillips DeAndre Brackensick Joshua Ledet

To further delay the plank-walking, we got a performance from Mary J. Blige. After a week spent schooling the kids in the studio, she schooled them on stage with her performance of “Why”. Like every other Mary J. song, it was belted out to the high heavens.

Mary J. Blige, “Why”

Finally, the bottom four — Jermaine, Jeremy, Elise and Shannon — were brought to center stage, where Seacrest cruelly asked Steven Tyler who should go home. Tyler gave a one-word answer: “Jeremy.” Seacrest then asked Jeremy how it felt to be on the bottom again, and in the most adorable way Jeremy said, “It stinks.” Watching the whole exchange was like seeing a puppy get kicked.

Seacrest then gave us the final standings, where it would be one man and one woman on the chopping block. Jermaine survived, and despite having what we felt was Wednesday’s weakest performance, Shannon did too. Chalk this one up to Elise’s bad ‘tude, we guess. Scowls + scratchy runs = bottom two. It’s science.

Jeremy joined her on the gallows, with the judges playing the role of executioner. After a pow-wow, JLo anxiously announced that they’d have to send Jeremy home. We got a sad farewell montage to say one last goodbye, and then it was like we lost our cuddly teddy bear during a move to the big city, never to see him again.

Next Week: The men try to grab some of the momentum the ladies have built up.

Are you sad to see Jeremy go, or was it the right call? Sound off in the comments, or on Twitter and Facebook.