American Idol: Season 8 Wild Card Selection Results Anoop Desai Makes Top13

As American Idol: Season 8 progresses, the show appears to want to listen to viewers. Tonight the AI judges - Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi - named the final contenders for the title of American Idol. Eight hopefuls were given one more chance to perform. Tonight we saw: Von Smith, Jasmine Murray, Ricky Braddy, Megan Corkrey, Tatiana Del Toro, Matt Giraud, Jesse Langseth and Anoop Desai.

Though they had all performed before on the American Idol stage, the nerves still made an appearance. There were no real surprises until the very end of the show. We were led to believe that Anoop Desai would again be denied his chance at AI fame, even after a blazing version of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative".

The judges came to their decisions quickly and called out the favorites Megan Corkrey and Jasmine Murray. Simon has loved both of these contestants from the start, and rightfully so. Jasmine Murray is only 17 with a great voice, and she is absolutely beautiful. Megan Corkrey is going to be famous. There is just something about Megan. Her voice was not as good for me tonight, but she is still somehow mesmerizing.

The biggest shock came down to Anoop Desai and Matt Giraud. Both young American Idol hopefuls had good performances and fan support tonight. Anoop Desai has been an audience and AI judge favorite from the beginning for the simple fact that he seems like such a nice guy. Matt Giraud has not been seen much and did not take advantage of his first performance on the AI stage. There was a bit of a gasp and obvious disappointment on Anoop's face when Ryan Seacrest announced Matt Giraud would advance to the AI: Season 8 Top 12. Simon Cowell spoke up to Anoop and said he could only explain it this way, "...we've decided to make it a Top 13". So both Anoop Desai and Matt Giraud will join the rest of the hopefuls next week.

The American Idol: Season 8 Top 13 are: Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver, Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, Jorge Nunez, Megan Corkrey, Jasmine Murray, Matt Giraud and Anoop Desai. I still think the top four of this group are Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, Lil Rounds and Danny Gokey. Anoop Desai certainly throws a wrench into the mix, but his failure to garner votes in week one have me doubting. There is no telling what the American tween audience and voters will decide.