Well, after Thursday night on "American Idol," the what's left of the Top 20 will head on back to Hollywood. On the live results show, host Ryan Seacrest revealed the Top 10 finalists for Season 12. And -- spoiler alert! -- there was one big shocker in the 90 minute-reveal: There were no surprise additions or wild cards, no shocking inclusions, and no unbelievable cuts. The shocker was that there were no anticlimactic and/or melodramatic shockers. For perhaps the first time in "American Idol" history, the Top 10 was made up of contestants that actually deserved to be in the Top 10.
That's right. "Awkward turtle" Charlie Askew and "bundle of festivities" Zoanette Johnson were sent home. So was Cortez Shaw, who was probably too full of himself to make it much further anyway. Adriana Latonio and Breanna Steer were found just a bit lacking, as were Elijah Liu and Vincent Powell. And Tenna Torres' inside association with Judge Mariah Carey (she attended a Carey-hosted singing camp as a child) didn't help with the popular vote.
Of all that didn't make the Top 10, only Aubrey Cleland and Nick Boddington seemed to be the most deserving. And they could have been exchanged for Janelle Arthur and Paul Jolley, respectively, without much fuss. But, again, the vote wasn't wrong in that it placed ten good performers in the Season 12 Top 10.
In fact, America did a pretty good job of voting in the best of the season's singers.
Here's who made the Top 10:
Lazaro Arbos
Janelle Arthur
Curtis Finch Jr.
Candice Glover
Kree Harrison
Amber Holcomb
Paul Jolley
Angela Miller
Burnell Taylor
Devin Velez
All those headed to Hollywood got to sing (what else were they going to do with all that time -- listen to Nicki Minaj talk about how "obsessed" she is with each and every finalist?) a victory song, which -- no surprises again -- was chock full of ballads. Not that they weren't performed well, but "Idol" has already been heavy on the ballads this season.
Still, even though there were no shockers, "Idol" wouldn't have been complete without at least a twist tossed in. Before the show ended, Seacrest announced that during next week's show, the next two contestants receiving the most votes outside the Top 10 (technically, the sixth-place female and the sixth-place male) would perform on the Top 10 show in a sing-off to see which would get to tour with the Top 10 on the Summer "American Idol LIVE! Tour."
As to who those two singers might be is anyone's guess. On the girls' side, it could be anyone -- save for perhaps Zoanette (but, then, you never know...). On the guys, it most likely will be Nick Boddington, but Vincent Powell and Elijah Liu both had good voices as well. Of course, you can never underestimate the voting strength of awkward turtles, either...
"American Idol" airs on Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. (EST) on Fox Television.
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