American Idol: And then there were 9

By Stone Martindale Mar 29, 2007, 4:45 GMT

\'American Idol\' contestant Sanjaya Malakar REUTERS/FOX/Handout

I've been getting a lot of flack from my previous "Idol" post yesterday for liking Gwen Stefani so much.  Mostly people are just irritated the alternative pop vixen is appearing on the dangerously close to being called schlocky show.  I guess everyone has something to sell.

No more emails either castigating me for the "dodgy Hollenbeck" reference.  (But if you are visiting L.A., seriously, it is not the place to go visit). 

The contestants this year are odd.  Carrot Top odd, or Tiny Tim or Siegfried and Roy odd for the older viewers.         
 
Anyway, I digress. Paula this season seems to be dialing it in, and does more leaning on Simon than anything. Simon is busy calculating compound interest in his head from his gi-hugent bank accounts, and Randy still eloquently dishes his bon mots: "yo yo dog, what's up dog, check it out check it out, check it out dog, you brought it dog, you know I love you dog." You know I can go on for another paragraph, dog.

The news is in.  Idol's bottom three are  Phil "Klaus" Stacey, Haley "Hot Pants" Scarnato and Chris "Jack Osbourne" Sligh. 

The big man Chris Sligh is going home.         

Sligh, 28, is a Greenville, S.C. native who proclaimed he was "bringing chubby back,"  has become the latest casualty of pop war.

"I think it's bye-bye, curly," predicted Simon Cowell, before the results were announced by Seacrest.

He can out sing any of the dudes.  Why Sanjaya wasn't thrown out with the "Bathwater" is beyond me.  I guess people have their reasons...

[tapping fingers annoyingly]

Great.  Now I am going to go watch that Sarah McLachlan "Angel" ASPCA commercial with all the abandoned and abused pound pets over and over for a cleansing tsunami of tears to blot the memory of this week's bizarre Idol, and Sanjaya's coiffe tribute to the band Bow Wow Wow from my brain.

Thanks America.