After a particularly inflammatory performance show that saw the judges really lay down the law for a handful of contestants, Thursday night's (March 17) "American Idol" results show went with a kinder, gentler vibe while waving goodbye to Karen Rodriguez. While her performance of Taylor Dane's "Love Will Lead You Back" was undoubtedly weak, Rodriguez does represent the 10th season's first somewhat surprising elimination, as either Naima Adedapo or Haley Reinhart (who fleshed out the bottom three alongside Rodriguez) could have been dismissed as well.
The bottom three wasn't particularly surprising to anybody, including the contestants themselves. Rodriguez, Reinhart and Adedapo all took their fates smiling, and there were never any real high drama moments when Ryan Seacrest announced who was safe and who wasn't. In fact, the only real intriguing moment came following Rodriguez's "Sing For Your Life" performance when Randy Jackson told the 21-year-old singer that even though the judges were not going to use their save on her, that decision was not a unanimous one (which means that one of them really wanted Rodriguez to stick around for another shot).
The rest of the show was taken up by performances by the Black Eyed Peas and season nine winner Lee DeWyze, both of whom debuted new singles to the world. Next week's episode will feature the Top 11 singing Motown songs, and it promises to be a make or break week for a number of singers. That was one of the many topics discussed during Thursday night's edition of "Idol Party Live."
Who do you think should have been eliminated? Let us know in the comments!
Don't miss "Idol Party Live" every Thursday night at 9 p.m. on MTV.com for analysis, celebrity guests and even some karaoke. Get in the conversation by tweeting with the hashtag #idolparty! And get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.