Idol Chatter: That Was ... Unpleasant

Let's get the "news" out of the way first: Jason Y. (who, honestly, I didn't even remember he was a contestant when he started to perform Tuesday night - I thought some scandal had happened and this guy I had never seen before was some sort of replacement for someone), Robbie, Alexandrea and Alaina got the boot last night. All, in all, a pretty fair round of eliminations - none of them had a banner performance, and the fact the off-show gossip this week focused on whether Robbie does  or does not wear a wig - didn't bode too well for him.

But - Alaina's reaction to being eliminated was one of the more uncomfortable things I've seen on TV this  year. And, given the way the eliminations are presented, with all the fake-outs and discomforting ploys, it's the reaction that you know the producers have wanted to see since the show started.

Ryan did his little "Is it Kady? Orrrrrrr Alaina?" drama thing, and he really only revealed that Alaina was out by saying that Kady was safe. It took poor Alaina a second to process, and then. she. freaked. out. She started sobbing, burrowed into Kady's shoulder and wailed "I can't sing!!" (A reference to the fact she was now going to have to warble through her song from the day before as a farewell; not that she can't sing in the grand scheme of things. That type of self-awareness does not belong on the show.) In the time it took Paula to ramble about puppies and butterflies and unicorns and chocolate cake, however, Alaina pulled it together and sang, with backing from all the AI ladies.

And, somewhere, the producers were shaking with glee. Ugh.