American Idol: Even Jennifer Lopez could not save DeAndre Brackensick

American Idol: On Thursday night, DeAndre Brackensick was once more in the bottom three. Should American Idol judges have used their save on DeAndre?

Thursday's American Idol results night began with the premiere of Jennifer Idol's new video, "Dance Again."  Randy Jackson prefaced the video by saying it was "hot." But Jennifer, acting giggly and demure, stated that Randy thinks everything is hot.  Well, if Jennifer Lopez half-dressed, suggestively dancing with a rather attractive male dancer, who is also her boyfriend, is your idea of hot, then you and Randy would agree. 

Aside from JLo's video, American Idol also lent the stage to the British band The Wanted, who sang their popular, "Glad You Came."  Idol Alum, Kellie Pickler also returned once again to perform, "Where's Tammy Wynette?"  Since getting voted off in 2006 (after making it to the top 6 on American Idol) Kellie has released three albums, got married last year, and gave up eating red meat, which she says is why she has lost 30 pounds. Frankly, she looked a bit gaunt.

But enough about Kellie.

Let's face it, we tune in to the American Idol results show not to see Idol judges and former contestants promote their careers, but to find out who was actually eliminated by the voting public. The bottom three was a delightful compilation of individuals pegged to be in the bottom three by yours truly.  The three were:

1. DeAndre Brackensick
2. Hollie Cavanagh
3. Elise Testone

An additional delight was listening to Jimmy Iovine criticize the judging panel, something this blog often does but without such an impressive platform.  Jimmy left no question that the judges have been far too easy on DeAndre, pumping him up when he failed to grow as much as some of the other contestants, like Joshua Ledet.  Though not completely on board with the statement that Joshua is growing exponentially week to week, it is obvious that DeAndre's growth has been very limited these past few weeks.  There's only so long that a grating falsetto will save you from elimination.

Jimmy also stated correctly, that Phillip Phillips needs to be great to avoid other contestants passing him.  Phillip dismissed Jimmy's remarks by stating that he's just there to play music and isn't interested in becoming someone else.  Yes, Season 11, we get it.  This whole "embrace your individuality" thing was cute when you pulled it with Tommy Hilfilger (who appears to have all but given up on the Idol contestants) but enough is enough.  The complacency that Phillip demonstrates can easily come across as indifference to being on the show. And honestly, with such a great pool of talent this year, why give voters a justification to vote for someone else?

Hollie Cavanagh was almost immediately sent back to the safety of the couch, destroying the prediction made here yesterday that she would be the one exiting the show on Thursday.  But the sting of knowing the predication was wrong was soothed by the 50 percent chance that DeAndre may be going home. Thankfully, the voters got it right this week and DeAndre was asked to sing for his life and here's when the real panic set in.

Jennifer's excessive praise of DeAndre – which Jimmy rightly called her on – raised a real concern: Would Jennifer extend the only save of the season to DeAndre??  Turns out, that's exactly what she would do – or at least, try to do.

Thankfully, Randy and Steven Tyler were there to provide a dose of reality. We don't know what they said to her, but any American Idol watcher will tell you that The Save is for a contestant who, for whatever reason, finds themselves facing elimination through the only mechanism that makes any sense . . . computer error combined with a healthy dose of conspiracy.  DeAndre had found himself in the bottom three more than once and this kid has been living on borrowed time since he auditioned in Season 10.  

So despite Jennifer's unexplainable adoration of DeAndre, the judges as a whole decided that it was time for DeAndre to say goodbye to his Idol dream.  "I only get one vote," Jennifer explained.  

Viva la democracy!!!