Smallscreen News

'American Idol' Recap: And then there were eleven

By M&C Smallscreen Mar 13, 2008, 4:35 GMT

03/08/2008 - 12 Final American Idol Contestants - © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

American Idol voters axed the first of the final twelve tonight.

Well, so you really think David Hernandez deserved to be cut this soon?  We even posted the gag-awful performance of Kristy Lee Cook, 24, so you could see with your own eyes how bad a Beatles song sounds "dunn Kountry."

Really and truly, very bad.

But you voted and this is what we can report: David Hernandez, the male stripper and lap-dancer is gone.  Back to Arizona. Poof.

Now we are left with 11 contenders who will battle again next week for the grand prize.

"Honestly, things happen for a reason," Hernandez told Ryan and the judges. "I think we all have a plan. ... This isn't it for me."

Hernandez sang "I Saw Her Standing There."

Kristy Lee Cook and Syesha Mercado, a 21-year-old from Sarasota, Fla., were the bottom rung vote getters with David.

The songs selected for the week's competition were from the John Lennon-Paul McCartney songbook this week.

The hands-down winners of the night were Chikezie ("She's A Woman"). Carly Smithson ("Come Together"), Brooke White ("Let It Be") and David Cook ("Eleanor Rigby").

Wednesday's show also featured a performance by season-five finalist and newlywed Katharine McPhee and musician David Foster (on the piano).