American Idol, April 23: Love Didn't Lead Them Back

So, what do the judges think? Randy says only one person deserves to go home tonight - Carmen. Wow, a direct answer! Who'd have thought it was possible? Paula says it's tough. One the one hand if Carmen goes tonight, she's leaving on a high note. But then, she'd still be leaving.

Simon says that not one of the three standing there have a chance of winning based on the previous night. It doesn't matter who goes tonight. But whichever two remain really need to raise their games.

OK, time to send somebody back. It's…

Trenyce!

Um. What? No way! I mean, do I think Trenyce should have been sent back to the couch? Yes. I put her in fourth. Obviously, though, that's not how I thought it would turn out. Good job, Trenyce fans! You outshined the Josh and Carmen fans and showed everybody that you could call in as well as - or better than - anybody. I tell ya, just when I think I have the game figured out…

OK, back to Joshua and Carmen. Now it's obvious that the support for Marine Joshua has waned with the war being pretty much over. So obviously he's going home tonight, right?

Nope!

Carmen is actually going home! My first thought is, "No freaking way!" Actually, that's my second, third, and fourth thought as well.

Ryan asks her how she would describe her trip through the show. "Incredible." She says it's a big stepping stone. From there we look at a taped version of her journey where she says several times that it's been a "dream come true."

From there, we actually have enough time for her to sing us to the credits, unlike the last couple of send-offs.

So, yes, I was wrong. Big-time. Trenyce fans proved me wrong. I'll discuss more about why Carmen lost in my usual column on that very topic over at Foxes On Idol. But I do have some insight as to how Trenyce stuck around.

I received two e-mails indicating that the TV station in Memphis, Trenyce's hometown, made a big push for votes on her behalf. One person relayed a post from a message board to me (sorry, I don't know which board):

Not only is there a piece on Trenyce on the Memphis news after every "Idol" broadcast, but now for the two hours following "Idol", there is a commercial during every break urging people to vote for Trenyce and showing the number to call NOW! Last night on the news, they really laid it on thick saying that Trenyce was in real jeopardy of being cut from the show if we didn't act NOW!!!! to save her.

Sorry to prove you wrong. The citizens of Memphis, Tennessee are behind Trencye. She does have a big fan base and we're out to prove it. We proved it tonight. Our T.V. stations are promoting her and her call in telephone number all night.

We may yet see Carmen again. She's cute, she's bubbly, and she does have some talent. She's not the American Idol - love for her didn't lead enough voters back - but that doesn't mean she's gone for good.

Keep checking back at Foxes On Idol, as I know we'll have a number of new articles addressing all different viewpoints of the results for this week!

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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