Michael Becker / Fox
Colton Dixon, Reed Grimm and Elise Testone are all moving on.
By Craig Berman
After one night of the ?American Idol? semifinal selection process, there are three facts to note heading into Thursday?s episode: If your favorite singer is a woman whose fate hasn?t been revealed yet, you may be in trouble. If it?s a man you?re worried about, you have a better shot. And if you?re cheering for Adam Brock, you really, really hate the show right now.
By the end of Wednesday?s two-hour episode, 22 singers had learned their fate and 14 of the 24 semifinalists were revealed. Very few of the outcomes were surprising, but that didn?t stop the ?Idol? judges from milking the tension for all it was worth.
Eight of the 12 spots for women have already been claimed. Among them are a pair of teenagers in Jessica Sanchez and Brielle Von Hugel. Sanchez?s backstory hook is that she?s part of a huge family and her mom is unemployed because of Sanchez's music career. As for Von Hugel, her mother, Camille, has been the star of the peanut gallery so far.
?Where did you get that tan?? host Ryan Seacrest asked mama Von Hugel on Wednesday?s show.
?Out of a can,? she replied.
Simon Cowell, take note. She could be your next ?X Factor? host with rejoinders like that.
Jen Hirsh, Haley Johnson, Elise Testone, Chelsea Sorrell, Baylie Brown and Erika Van Pelt also moved on to varying degrees of fanfare. Brown had to undego the torture of hearing Steven Tyler say, ?It doesn?t give me great pleasure to say this?... [cue Brown?s heart stopping] actually, it makes me ecstatic.? But she never looked nervous, a good sign for her going forward.
Meanwhile, Van Pelt got the most lukewarm endorsement, as J.Lo first told her, ?We had a lot of people who didn?t do as amazing as we thought they were gonna do, and unfortunately you were one of those people.? Then she?added, ?We?re gonna take one more chance on you.? In other words, don?t necessarily expect Van Pelt?to still be around in April.
Only three women were denied: Blaire Sieber, Naomi Gillies and Lauren Gray. Gray might have been a mild surprise, but she wasn?t shocked.
?I knew it was coming,? she said as she hugged the judges
?You?re 23, you?re so good and you?re so close,? Randy Jackson told her. But not close enough.?
For those of you doing the math, that makes 10 women with uncertain fates, and only four spots in the semifinal remaining.
As for the men, unless you?re a big Richie Law fan, nothing was surprising.
Were the judges going to send Colton Dixon home at this stage for the second year in a row after they had to browbeat him to get him to audition again in the first place? Would they bring the wacky Reed Grimm this far just to let him go now? Could they really send Phillip Phillips back to the pawn shop musical circuit?
No, no and no.
The same goes for Heejun Han, who?s sure to make it big somewhere even if he doesn?t last long here. ?You?re a better star than you are a singer,? Steven told him when he gave him the good news. A throwaway quip, perhaps, but also true. We?ll find out next week whether Han's that good in front of the camera or whether the editors have just been really good to him.
Creighton Fraker and Joshua Ledet might have been on shakier ground, but both were camera hogs in recent episodes and therefore, obvious picks. But we did find out that Fraker?s biological father is in the band Flotsam and Jetsam, so feel free to break that out at your next ?Idol? trivia night.
We also saw the dream end for five others. Cowboy?Law was the most prominent, but his final ?Ring of Fire? solo didn?t do much to boost his chances. Neco Starr was the biggest surprise, while Caleb Johnson lost his shot with a brutal performance in his final solo. Clayton Farhat and River St. James also were shown the door.
That leaves 10 men left with six spots available, pretty good odds.
As for Brock, his fate was left up in the air as the cliffhanger heading into Thursday. All we know is that he broke down trying to explain how much this meant to him, and he heard Randy tell him, ?Our decision for you is definitely not unanimous.?
Here?s one unanimous decision from ?Idol? fans to those in charge of the show: Those kind of cliffhangers are annoying. Fortunately, that drama will end Thursday, and we?ll finally find out the last 10 of the 24 singers who will move onto the live episodes next week.
Were you surprised by any of Wednesday's results? Which eliminated hopeful will you miss most? Tell us on our Facebook page!
Want more "Idol" during "Idol"? Follow @CraigBerman as he live tweets each show!
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