American Idol- Final 20

For the males, here is how I ranked them this week from best to worst. This is purely based on vocal performance in that week's show only, and I try very hard to not favor or discriminate based on the kind of song that is sung and whether or not I like that particular kind of music.

1. Phil Stacey
2. A.J. Tabaldo
3. Sundance Head
4. Chris Sligh
5. Jared Cotter
6. Blake Lewis
7. Brandon Rogers
8. Chris Richardson
9. Nick Pedro
10. Sanjaya Malakar

Last week, I correctly predicted both male singers that were eliminated and one out of the two female contestants that lost. Here is what I foresee happening this week, first for the males:

While I think Sanjaya clearly is not up to par with the rest, I think he is probably going to stay around for a bit, considering that it was said that he made the top 4 for the guys last week. Call it the John Stevens/Kevin Covais effect or whatever, but the youngest male typically hangs around longer than they probably should.

Nick, despite the Vote for Pedro tie-in, did not rise above the crowd this week, and I think he will be sent home. As for the other elimination, I am going to say that it will be Brandon Rogers, who also probably did not stand out enough.

Now for the females, which quite frankly, are a much more interesting group of contestants for a variety of reasons:

1. Melinda Doolittle
2. Sabrina Sloan
3. LaKisha Jones
4. Gina Glockson
5. Jordin Sparks
6. Haley Scarrato
7. Alaina Alexander
8. Stephanie Edwards
9. Leslie Hunt
10. Antonella Barba

So, I think Antonella and Leslie should be the ones to leave based on merit. I do think that Leslie Hunt will probably be eliminated, however, I have a hunch that Antonella will not.

She may be the worst singer, but America is probably going to want to keep her around to see what else can be dug up on her over the next week! Just how many people will be offended by those things she did at the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC? I really wonder if Bob Dole has seen those photos! Plus, Antonella has all those Vote for the Worst website people working on her behalf. Thus, I think she will grace American Idol and the blogosphere for at least another week, and her inevitable offer from Playboy or Penthouse will have to wait.

So, besides Leslie Hunt, who I feel bad about ranking so low, since she is from Chicago and all, I am going to go with a prediction of Alaina Alexander being the other elimination.

She better hope that a lot of liberals were watching the show and will be willing to vote for her rendition of that angry Dixie Chicks song because no patriotic American will dial her number up after that song choice.

While I am predicting Leslie and Alaina to be eliminated, I also kind of wonder if Stephanie Edwards may be more at risk this week than we realize. I think she is incredibly talented, but for some reason, I just did not like how she did the Beyonce song, at least at the beginning. The judges all seemed to like it, but as Randy would say, it didn't work for me. She deserves to continue in this competition, but I have to look at things from a political perspective and realize that there are four other extremely talented African-American female singers who may be cutting into the vote that Stephanie is going to need.

But, I will say this will be the end of the road for Nick, Brandon, Leslie, and Alaina, even though half of those people probably will get at least a little bit of a raw deal.