For the women, the obvious ones get in - Lakisha, Melinda, Jordin, Gina, Stephanie. Antonella finally gets to go home, which is a good thing. No disrespect intended to the girl, and it has nothing to do with her dirty pictures. I think everyone was mad at the possibility that she might knock out better singers because she's pretty (and naked). Well, she didn't, she goes home. Maybe she'll go on to model instead of singing.

And then the first big surprise of the night as Haley gets in, beating out Sabrina?! That's just crazy. Paula is upset. Sabrina quite frankly looks mad rather than upset. Who knows why. Perhaps the audience just sort of lumped her in with Stephanie and she didn't stand out? She's obviously a much better singer than Haley, and everyone agrees. No idea why nobody warmed up to her.

And then we have the guys. Some of them are obvious, like Blake, Chris R, Chris S. Branden is the first to go, which is probably not a surprise but does not sit well with my wife, who liked him. Brandon gets through, as does Phil. I could have lived without Phil. The hats make him look like some sort of weird creepy guy.

It comes down to Sundance and Sanjaya. Didn't they do that in the original Hollywood round as well, leaving Sundance until the end? This time though the results are different, as Sanjaya gets by on what must be the cute kid factor, and Sundance goes home. That's crazy. Nobody can use the "didn't stand out and be original" excuse with Sundance, he was one of the most memorable characters right from the beginning. The judges even take a moment to say "No disrespect to Sanjaya..." before just laying into that decision. I liked Simon's suggestion that "the volume was turned down" when America decided who to vote for.

So, that's the final 12. Shame about Sundance, would have been fun to listen to him. I liked him better than many of the guys. Now I guess I'll support Blake.

Oh, and does anybody know what the heck Ryan was talking about with the big announcement? When has the public at large ever cared about starving children in Africa? Was he trying to say that there's going to be an American Idol concert with Bono and everybody? If so, he said way too many words and I think I'm not the only one who was left wondering, "So, tell me again what the announcement is?"

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