This week's Idol elimination round included some shockers, like Amanda Overmyer making it through (gee, thanks a lot, Vote For The Worst!) and authenticity-challenged rock dude Robbie Carrico not exactly rocking the vote. But the biggest Thursday-night surprise for me, personally, was all the waterworks.
Seriously, after this week, American Idol should consider dropping core advertisers Ford and Coca-Cola, and just having every elimination episode sponsored by Kleenex. Or maybe by a suicide-prevention hotline.
OK, look...unlike Simon, I don't have a heart of granite. I swear. I do understand how difficult it must be for the castoffs when their dreams are prematurely crushed, especially when they're forced to sing one last depressing, dejecting time. (Poor Alaina Whitaker could barely squeak out a note Thursday night, and I didn't blame her one bit.)
Furthermore, I do understand that it's emotionally taxing when the remaining finalists must bid adieu to the people with whom they've shared such a unique bonding experience. But come on, already. The way the contestants were uncontrollably sobbing on Thursday, it was as if Robbie, Alaina, Alexandrea, and Jason Y. had been killed in some horrific, fiery plane crash--not merely eliminated from the top 20.
Getting cut from a reality show is not the most colossal tragedy in the world, you know. Just ask Chris Daughtry!
Really now, did the finalists not see this coming? Did they think Ryan Seacrest was going to say, "Surprise! None of you are getting cut tonight! You all get to stay! Forever! In fact, you all get lucrative record deals! And you all get ponies and a lifetime supply of ice cream, too!"
No, they knew four people unfortunately had to exit stage left--and let's face it, the 16 singers who remained might've been weeping a lot harder if they'd be the ones in the bottom four. Unless, of course, those were secretly joyous tears of relief they were shedding...
My point is--and this is a point I'd make not only about Idol, but about ANY reality competition with weekly eliminations, from Top Model to So You Think You Can Dance to Project Runway--someone's going to get cut every week. Only one contestant can win in the end. So if this is the way the Idol finalists are already acting in week 2, then how on earth are they going to hold up between now and the finale? It's downright troubling, because Elimination Night is never going to get easier--therefore I hope for their sake that these singers develop thicker skins. They'll need thick skins to survive in the music biz, anyway.
All right, enough of that. On less teary, more hairy note, now that Robbie's gone, those wacky wig rumors can finally be retired to the archives. We may never know for sure whether Carrico's hair was real (or just real expensive), but hey--maybe Robbie had more in common with his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears than previously believed:
Sorry, couldn't resist...after Thursday's sobfest, I figured one last wig joke would help lighten things up.
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