American Idol's shock and awe

The Scottish poet, Robert Burns once said, "There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing."

After last night's results show, American Idol fans are beginning to understand the true meaning of that quote. Leave it to American Idol to throw the proverbial monkey wrench into a boring season with talent not up to par with previous seasons, perhaps sparking controversy and renewed interest.

Last night's 'shock and awe' show, with the elimination of one of the few contestants with raw, natural talent, is not the first time viewers were left wondering what voters were thinking when they failed to vote for a front-running American Idol contestant.

The first big American Idol controversy happened during season 3, which I like to call the Nightmare of Fantasia season, when voters failed to get behind Jennifer Hudson, and eliminated her from the competition, leaving many people to suggest that voters were racist. Another theory surfaced from those in Hudson's hometown, claiming that she received fewer votes than the other contestants did, because of power outages due to storms in the area of Hudson's hometown of Chicago.

As ridiculous as the 'perfect storm' theory was, the accusations of racism were perhaps even more ludicrous. The week Jennifer Hudson left American Idol, there were six contestants remaining, three of them white and three of them black, so the race conspiracy theorists obviously could not count either.

For Adam Lambert fans, the real tragedy came in the finale of American Idol last year, when Danny Gokey left, taking third place, and even though Adam appeared to have the win 'in the bag', the come-from-behind Kris Allen took the title. Kris Allen appeared in the bottom three, receiving the least amount of votes, several times during the season. Adam Lambert, on the other hand, appeared in the bottom only once, and Danny Gokey's only appearance in the bottom three was the night he went home.

Fast forward to last night's American Idol eliminations, as Lilly Scott's fans watched as their pick for the win, or at the very least, the runner up this year is 'thrown under the American Idol bus'.

A number of things could have happened, and I would officially announce that I am jumping on the conspiracy theory AI bus tour after last night.

Either Lilly's fans mistakenly thought that she had a large fan base and did not need their votes, or no one could get through on Lilly's number to vote for her, or a record producer approached the American Idol people and Lilly, and struck a deal to release her from the competition. If you think that sounds crazy, here are the reviews of Lilly's three performances since the judges picked Lilly to be in the top 24:

• I think you're in the zone right now.
• Love your voice and originality.
• *You kind of made Patsy Cline feel current.
• It was cute, it was quirky, it plays into what you're all about.
• My favorite performance of the night.
• You just had your first moment in this competition.
• By far, the best performance of the night.
• You made my point about being relevant and using this as a showcase.
• I love that you're more like an indie artist.
• You're believable and it comes from the heart.
• There's such a great presence about you and such a unique voice.
• The best we've had so far.

*Disregard that stupid remark because Patsy Cline will forever be current.

Are we to believe that American Idol voters disagreed wholeheartedly with ALL of the judges reviews of Lilly Scott's performances?

Should we believe that with accolades from the judges every week, that viewers believed Lilly would receive enough votes to stay, and instead they cast their vote for someone they believed needed the votes?

I choose to believe that the AI bigwigs planned Lilly's departure ahead of time for whatever reason. I noticed we did not see the judges' reaction to the announcement.

It is either that, or parents neglected to keep their 12 year olds off the speed dial to vote for other contestants with less than half the talent of Lilly Scott.

Oh and Alex Lambert, Katelyn Epperly, and Todrick Hall went home as well. No surprise to see Katelyn and Todrick go, but Alex Lambert, although stiff and uncomfortable at times, deserved to stay over Andrew Garcia who has not been able to live up to his Straight Up performance. In addition, the judges made the mistake of letting Lacey Rose go through to Hollywood, and then adding insult to injury, the voters keep Lacey in and vote Lilly out.

These are my thoughts on the shocking elimination of Lilly Scott. What are yours?