Top 5 Results

Welcome back to I'dol Be The Judge. Tonight we will learn the fate of another contestant, and see who makes the Top 4. One of the remaining 5 will join the ranks with those eliminated at this spot. They join contestants such as, George Huff of Season 3, Paris Bennett of Season 5, Brooke White of Season 7 and most recently as Ryan Seacrest liked to say "teenager" Aaron Kelly. Not a lot of success from those eliminated at this point. George Huff is now Jennifer Hudson's back up singer, so that's something to strive for, being the back up singer for a person that was eliminated on your season earlier than you. So to this season's eliminated 5th place finisher be ready to be Thia Megia's back up singer.

All kidding aside, it should be interesting to see what happens. So let's get to it:

Top 5 Group Performance:

The Top 5 are singing "Happy Together", a bit better than last week's mess but still rough, the 2 girls saved this performance. Jacob Lusk's part was pretty bad, and the song just kept going and going, I never realized how long that song was until these 5 sang it together.

Top 5 Cooks:

Last week the Top 6 went to a gathering at the British Consulate, this week they get to learn how to cook with Gordon Ramsey of Hell's Kitchen. Nice cross promotion FOX. What's next? Is Homer Simpson going to perform a duet with Scotty? Although that would be cool, it's still shameless cross promotion. Time waster is more of an accurate portrayal of this bit. I did enjoy that Haley cursed while being under pressure, she just doesn't care that she is on the most popular show on TV. Awesome. The blind food test between Jacob and Lauren was pretty funny, I will admit that. Why can't Jacob show some of this funny side. Lauren wins the Best Chef Prize, which adds up to absolutely nothing.

Performance # 1:

Lady Antebellum is back. They came to the show a few weeks ago, and are back again. Don't get why Cheryl Crow can't perform since she was the mentor this week. It's a nice live performance by this group, not my cup of tea, but I definitely appreciate their sound.

Song Choice/Wardrobe Discussion?:

They feel it's difficult picking new songs each week. Lauren likes to pick songs that people her age can relate to and isn't old fashioned and boring. Haley finds it difficult to choose a song that the judges, audience and what she wants all at the same time. Scotty jokingly reveals that he throws a deck of cards in the air and whatever card he picks that is the song he chooses. James just goes with whatever he feels like in the morning. Jacob stands up for his bow tie and checkered suit jacket combination that he wore last week and then the rest of the contestants make fun of him for that.

Results # 1:

(Like last week Jimmy Iovine will have comments on all of the performances from last night).

James stands up at the couch.

What Does Jimmy Think?: He loved James' first selection, but feels that James was so overwhelmed by emotion during the second song that his voice closed down.  Feels to be a great performer he needs to control his emotions better. Gives him an 8 overall.

James joins Group 1 on the far end of the stage.

Lauren stands up at the couch.

What Does Jimmy Think? Thought Flat on the Floor was great, but in her second performance she pulled back on the big moment of the song. He thinks her fear made her pull back. If she continues to be afraid it will keep her out of the finals. Thinks she will be in the Bottom 2 tonight.

Lauren joins Group 2 on the near side of the stage. She looks very sad and emotional from the comments that Jimmy just made.

Performance # 2:

Jennifer Lopez performs her hit song "On The Floor" with Pitbull. How did they convince her to perform this song, just as her album came out 2 days ago? Incredible timing. I do enjoy seeing another side of J.Lo. Seeing her in the judges role and seeing her jump around and sing live is enjoyable. Plus the song is damn catchy.

As a "bonus" we also get to see a teaser of J.Lo's new music video with her new song "I'm Into You".

Results # 2:

Jacob stands up at the couch.

What Does Jimmy Think?: Thinks Jacob had a rough night and thought both songs were odd. Thinks his inner strength didn't come out and feels he lost his way. Thinks Jacob was a 6 out of 10.

Jacob joins Lauren on the near side of the stage.

Haley stands up at the couch.

What Does Jimmy Think?: Thinks that Haley needed to take a risk and showed she had no fear. Loves that Haley brought herself back from some of the tough judges' comment and came out as a lioness. Thinks that Haley deserves a 10 and was best performance of the night. Believes that if Haley's confidence continues to grow that she is a lock for the finale.

Haley joins James on the far side of the stage.

Scotty stands up at the couch.

What Does Jimmy Think?: Thinks he killed it and his first performance was stellar. Thinks he came up a bit short with his second performance but still has a huge talent and thinks he will have an extraordinary recording career  if he wins the show or not.

Scotty is SAFE

Ryan asks Scotty to stand with the group that he thinks is also Safe. He refuses and then Ryan pushes Scotty to the far side of the stage with James and Haley.

James and Haley are both SAFE

Lauren and Jacob are BOTTOM 2. Lauren is now even more emotional and is crying pretty badly.

Bottom 2/Who's Going Home?:

SAFE=Lauren

Going Home=Jacob. It was his time. He went further than I would have liked, but he had to leave before the other 4 because most of them nailed one or both of their songs and blew him out of the water. His swan song is from one of his better performances "A House Is Not A Home".

Final Thoughts?:

*Jacob Lusk was last season's Andrew Garcia. Like Andrew, Jacob had a breakout song during Hollywood week. Jacob's version of "God Bless The Child" was really incredible. This one song carried him throughout the course of his run on the show. Sure he had one or 2 decent weeks, but he honestly was living off of that one performance. But Jacob lasted a few weeks longer than Andrew so gotta give Jacob credit for that. I liked Jacob a lot more earlier on in the competition, and actually started to resent the fact he was still on week after week. So now that he is gone maybe I can appreciate his voice again. Probably not, but it's a thought.

*This Top 4 is as good as you could ask given the crop that we started out with. I would have loved Pia in the Top 4, but since she left Haley has grown leaps and bounds and last night proved that she is a contender. Plus Pia has been gone for a pretty long time if you think about. The other 3, Scotty, Lauren and James all have been very consistent with Lauren now only being in Bottom 2 once, and Scotty and James having yet to be in Bottom 3. They are obviously very popular, but they also have a lot of talent.

*I think Lauren had a shot of having a moment last night and didn't because she was scared to push herself to that next level. By being saved this week and avoiding elimination she can retool and bring out whatever tricks she has because arguably Lauren is not the best girl left in this competition anymore.
*Funny that after all of the craziness of having 5 girls in a row go home, we are left with exactly 2 guys and 2 girls in the Top 4. That tells you something about these remaining 2 girls and the guys that were sent packing.

Please come back for Top 4 week next Wednesday. These are the best 4 that we could have asked for, and it should be really fun next week. See you soon.