Top 3 Results

Welcome back. Tonight we will learn which 2 contestants will make it to the finale and which contestant will be this close but still so far away. 3rd place is a tough position to be in, you are almost there but not quite. Either Scotty, Lauren or Haley will join the ranks with some other notable 3rd place finishers. They join people like Season 1's Nikki McKibbin, Season 4's Vonzell Solomon, Season 5's Eliott Yamin, Season 6's Melinda Doolittle, and last season, Season 9's Casey James. It's quite a mix of shoulda, coulda been winners, and a couple of people that you don't even know how they got there. Being 3rd isn't the best place in terms of after-Idol success but one of the remaining contestants will be there anyways. We will see shortly who that will be. So let's get to it:

95 MILLION VOTES

Ryan announces that there were 95 Million Votes cast last night. The most votes for a non-finale show. This is the main reason why American Idol will never ever limit the number of votes per phone or per person like they do on Dancing With The Stars. American Idol Takes pride in that big number.

Contestants Watch A Movie/Get A Prize:

The contestants get a sneak peek and see clips of Super 8, that is produced by J.J Abrams and his company Bad Robot. From the looks of the movie there is something out there that is trying to hurt people for some reason. J.J Abrams gives each contestant a video camera to bring back to their hometown visits.

Haley's Hometown Visit:

Haley gets to go home to Chicago's suburb Wheeling. It's a little rainy but a whole mess of people show up anyways. The President of Wheeling declares May 13, 2011 Haley Rainhart day, instead of Reinhart, guess she didn't get the memo that her name is produced like Rhine as in Rhinestones. But Haley is too pumped to notice that she messed up her name. Haley gets to go to her actual home and see her family finally. I don't see Haley carrying around one of those fancy cameras that J.J Abrams just gave her. After Haley visits her family she gets to go on a little parade and visit her old high school. It's probably all pretty full circle. Then she goes to Arlington Park and sees about 30,000 more people and performs on stage with her father. It's nice to see.

Performance #1:

Il Volo performs. You know Il Volo they are just below Lady Gaga in terms of popularity. They are an italian group that sings a song that is probably 3 decades too old for them. I wonder who knows someone that knows someone who knows someone that was able to pull strings to get this group. They were fine, they sang cool, but it doesn't really match the vibe of the contestants or theme of last night. It's just an odd little fit for the show at this point. Either way, there ya go.

Scotty's Hometown Visit:

Scotty went home to Garner, North Carolina. He gets a lot better weather than what Haley got in Chicago. Scotty visits a radio station, gets swarmed by tons of screaming teenage girls and that's all before noon. Scotty gets to go home to see his family and lay in his bed for a second. He then gets to visit his old baseball team at his high school and he starts to get really choked up and emotional. Then he gets to visit his old grocery store that he worked at. We see Scotty pull out his camera and shoot a few scenes. Pretty much everywhere that Scotty goes he is bombarded with screaming fans, mostly girls. He then goes to a park and sings his famous "Baby Lock Them Doors " which is actually a song by Josh Turner who completely surprises him and joins Scotty on stage. You probably can't get more surprised then that. You can see how much the day meant to him and he calls it probably the best day of his life.

Performance #2:

Nicole Scherzinger former Pussycat Doll, now X-Factor co-host sings her new single featuring 50 cent. Ryan announces Nicole's performance away from the stage thus meaning that this another pre-taped performance. Why do they lie? Why can't they just say here is a performance that was taped last week, or last night. Why carry on such a ridiculous lie like that? Haven't seen 50 cent in awhile so that was cool to see him. Other than that it was nothing too exciting out there.

Lauren's Hometown Visit:

Lauren is from Rossville, Georgia. It's the smallest of the 3 hometowns. Before Lauren even leaves the plane she is already in tears. She gets to visit her old high school, and she had a day declared for her as well. A few weeks ago a lot of hurricanes and tornadoes rocked the South, including a lot of the area near Lauren's home. It's pretty emotional and incredibly sad. Houses, parks, trees and lives are destroyed, including an arena that Lauren used to play basketball in. Lauren visits Tyler Long who rescued his family from wreckage. He pulled a diaper in some of the debris and it ended up being his little brother and then he pulled him out from underneath some bricks. Wow. After that Lauren gets to go on a little parade and pulls up to a park where thousands of people show up to hear her sing. Lauren then gets to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game. A whirlwind emotional day for Lauren but incredibly enjoyable and unforgettable for her.

Results:

All 3 join Ryan center stage.

First SAFE is SCOTTY. Not shocking in the least. He has been getting huge numbers and has easily been the front runner the entire way.

Who's Going Home?:

SAFE=Lauren

Going Home=HALEY. Darn. I thought she was making it to the finale. I think she did too, her face was just utter shock.

Final Thoughts?:

*The country fans came out huge last night. Lauren and Scotty must have a lot of fans because having 2 country singers in the finale is saying something.

*Scotty and Lauren both seem like pretty cool and nice people. I love that Scotty makes fun of himself and goes for that "Baby Lock Them Doors" that is always pretty funny given that he sang it like 10 times in the first couple rounds of the show. Lauren is always so cute and bubbly and just goes with it, the hometown visit also made her really endearing. They are the youngest twosome ever to be on the finale together.

*It should be an interesting finale, Lauren and Scotty are definitely both gonna get that country vote, but Scotty still has all the little girls and teen votes, Lauren is going to have to try to grab some of Haley's votes to overtake Scotty. It's not easy task. Scotty is a force.

*In 10 seasons of American Idol only one time has the eventual winner been in the Bottom 3. That person was Fantasia. If the same fortune holds true then Lauren is in trouble and Scotty has got this because he has not been in the Bottom 3 once. Although Lauren has only been Bottom 3 once. I guess we'll have to see.

*Haley went from being in the Bottom 3, 4 times to getting to the Top 3. That's quite a turnaround. She provided a lot of fun and different moments and I will miss her not being in the finale, just to add a little spice and having a different style in there. But she did a great job and was easy to root for.

You must come back to I'dol Be The Judge Next TUESDAY after the Top 2 perform. It all ends next week, come back to see how it turns out.