SANJAYA-NARA
Poor Simon. He finally gets rid of Sanjaya and now everybody thinks he's against sympathy for masacre victims.
I'll tell you, I watched that tape they showed and I'm still not sure that he wasn't frowning at Chris' reach for a sympathy vote.
I'm also not sure if the Virginia connection didn't boost Chris past Blake in the voting. With Chris in the bottom three twice, I have just been assuming that Blake was more popular. The only explanation I can think of for Blake's dip is that maybe his voters were part of the Phil surge or maybe they moved over to Chris. If it was Phil, I'd have to assume it's cause Phil performed real well. If it was Chris, I think it was the Virginia thing.
Either way, I was pretty shocked, and so, I guess, was everybody else.
Were any of you surprised that Paula was so quick to dismiss Lakeesha's appearance in the bottom three? I really think the show has decided they can't have her and Melinda head to head and have deemed her expendable. With Blake and Kiki in the bottom three, Melinda and Jordin are now the only ones never to be there.
I thought they did a good job of building the suspence. By putting Sanjaya and Phil on opposite sides, you kind of knew that either one could be the safe side. When they sent Jordin to Phil's side, everybody applauded because they knew that meant Phil was safe. Lakeesha didn't change anybody's mind. But when Chris went to the "safe" side and Blake to the other, you could hear the surprise and confusion. They're good at that suspense stuff.
With Sanjaya gone, it's now a genuine singing competition. They probably have the best six singers up there from the final 12 and maybe even from the top 24. I know I've put Phil down, but it's never been his voice that's the problem. Strong voice. Boring singer. I think he's the opposite of Blake and Chris who are fun to watch but not powerful on the vocals. You could make a case for Sligh or Sundance, I guess, but I think it's safe to say that Phil, Chris and Blake were probably the three best male singers in the competition. Melinda, Lakeesha and Jordin were clearly the three best women, so even though it took them awhile, America has pretty much gotten it right.
So now it's three white guys and three black women. Kind of like date night at Robert DeNiro's house.
As far as the pool goes, it was another strong night for Mr. Spector. With Sanjaya in tenth place, he added to his lead against many of us. Robin and Natanya had Sanjaya in 8th, so the pick up two points on Steve, but they also have Phil in 12th, so that's going to hurt them when he eventually goes. They also have Melinda winning, whereas Steve has her in fourth, but they have Jordin in 7th, while Steve has her in second.
The Frosts have interesting ballots. Both lost a few point on Sanjaya last night, but they are still in shouting distance of the lead. Interestingly, they both have Phil pretty high up, so they'll pick up points on most of us there. Kristina has Melinda in first and Jordin second, a definite advantage on Spector and John has Blake winning, so between the two of them, they're covered in most of the likely eventualities.
Steve must feel frustrated. He finally scores better than Jojo, only to have Jojo's sister nipping at his heels.
Inspite of Sanjaya's surprisingly strong finish, nobody is going to be hurt too bad by him. If you had him in 12th, you lose 5 points, but you're not alone and you're only losing one point to the many people who had him in 11th. Lori, who had him in 4th, stood to win big if he stuck around at least one more week. Not only would it have brought him one step closer to her and one further from the 11th and 12th pickers, it would have doubled the score deductions. Instead, she ends up getting the same deduction as people who had him in 10th and worse than those who had him 9th or 8th.
The big hurt starts next week, when point values double. Phil is going to be the big determinator. The worst he can do is 6th, which means the best people can do if they had him finishing last is -12. Considering that some people have him 6th or higher, that's a big point differential. There's nobody else left who has nearly as many bottom rung votes, so he's the most volitile candidate.
Now it starts getting interesting.
Comments
Now who shall we pick on next? Chris for saying "hi" to all his friends back in Virginia which I thought was a totally harmless statement - sort of like saying "Hi Mom". Or Lakisha who needs to win this competition in order to take care of her daughter in a comfortable syle. I say, neither - lets pick on Melinda!