GOODBYE, HOT PANTS
In spite of the "strategy" Simon so ably grasped, Haley finally bit the dust tonight on her third consecutive visit to the bottom three.
No surprise there. The surprise, of course is that she lasted this long. More than half of us had her going home the very first week. Almost all the rest had her going home the next week or two. Just as unanimous was the choice of her, Sanjaya and Phil as the bottom three, so the real shock is that all three lasted till top 8. In fact, I think the reason Steve Spector started out the contest in sole possession of first place was that not only was he the only one to pick Brandon first, he was one of the only ones not to pick Haley, Sanjaya or Phil for that distinction. I think one person may have picked Stephanie.
Of course you won't see much movement in the standings this week — Robin & Natanya pulled a point closer to Spector thanks to their 10th place pick for Haley — because everybody had her quite low. There is far more variation in the votes for Phil and Sanjaya, so there will be point swings when one of them leaves.
Of course if Phil goes next week, in seventh place, it won't cause too much of a stir. The people who have him in 11th and 12th will take a little hit, but when you consider that the people who have him the highest (5th place, I think) and the people who have him in 9th (probably the largest group) will each hold even with each other, you realize again that he isn't going to hurt or help anybody too much unless he sticks around the to the top six. Personally, I don't think he will. He's already been in the bottom three and unprecedented three times in a row and four of the last five. How much longer can he hold on?
This is the first time this year there have been more men in the contest than women, so you have to figure the next to go will be a man.
What will be interesting next week is, will there be an all male bottom three or will one of the favorites (Melinda, Lakisha, Jordin) be in the bottom three.
Besides perennial Phil, only two surviving candidates have been in the bottom three. Sanjaya once and Chris twice now. With Chris hitting the bottom three again, for the second time in five weeks, and both times after a pretty good performance, I have to assume he's not long for this show. My guess is that he and Blake are hitting the same demographic and Blake is just outpolling him. I actually like Chris better, but what does that mean?
Could Sanjaya outlast Chris. It certainly seems possible right now. I don't see him outlasting Blake, or the three PowerGirls, but it's certainly possible that he could outlast one of them. Next week, there are seven singers left, the same number we had when Fantasia, LaToya and Jennifer made their fabled appearance in the bottom three. It's country week, following Latin week, a combo that doesn't seem to favor any of them. With the pretty, but untalented white girl gone, there is less for the voters to prove. So don't be surprised if two of the girls end up in the bottom three.
Country week might actually favor Phil. I'm sure it would have favored Haley.
And apropos of nothing, you gotta love that African kid who gave Simon man-boobs in the picture.
As for the pool, Spector continues to dominate, and with Melinda having a mediocre week (for her) his ballot is starting to look better. Steve is one of the few people in the pool whose bottom two is now gone.
After Robin and Natanya, we have John Frost and Kristina Clemente, scoring very high for a couple. John and Kristine are expecting and the winnings would go a ways toward keeping the new kid in diapers. They also have divurgent ballots so one of them stays in the race if Melinda stays and one is depending on her to go (in favor of Blake).
Kristina is just one point ahead of her brother Jo, two time winner, whose ballot has a number of weakspots. We have other couples doing well, such as Steve and Robin Vizvary, and the sisters Esposito, Destiny and Bliss.
The next weeks will tell us a lot.
Comments
I just looked at my ballot - I am like so not going to win! But at least I am higher than my son-in-law.
Country music week - well I see Jordin taking this week. The rest of the group might as well not show up. Can't quite see Lakisha, Melinda, Phil (good he's wearing a hat now but he still needs sunglasses) singing country - now Blake - maybe if he leaves off the doo wops, Chris - maybe a silly little love song...and I've never seen a country singer as skinny as Sanjaya but if he sings a Kenny Chesney song he might pull it off. By the way, it was bound to happen - I was just informed by Registration that someone in the Thoroughbred world just named their horse "Sanjaya"! Till next week - Happy Trails!