Haley Reinhart No Sore Loser

Ever since her elimination on the Top Three results show of "American Idol" (Thursday, 5/19/11), Haley Reinhart has been the target of unfair attacks concerning her reaction when Ryan Seacrest announced that Lauren Alaina was safe. She's been called ungracious, a brat, a sore loser and a poor sport. Nevermind that other contestants had emotional moments when they got bad news, for some reason, it brought out the worst in Scotty and Lauren fans, and of course, there are always some who are just plain mean to begin with.

When Ryan announced that Scotty McCreery was safe, he took in the news then turned to hug Lauren. Then he hugged Ryan while Haley and Lauren hugged. The two girls were holding hands as Ryan announced that Lauren was safe. Lauren began to clap while Haley seemed to freeze from the blow. Lauren jumped back a little then touched Haley's arm and said something to her, then the camera panned to the judges. When it returned to the contestants, Lauren and Haley were hugging and Haley said something to her. Then Lauren went off to hug Scotty, while Ryan pulled a still stunned Haley forward, saying "which means we're saying goodbye -- a short goodbye -- to Haley, ladies and gentlemen."

After weeks of dealing with unfair criticism from Randy Jackson in particular, and sometimes Jennifer Lopez, while she worked her butt off to climb out of the Bottom Three, not allowing Haley a few seconds of shock and disappointment surely seems like adding insult to injury!

When James Durbin was eliminated, he didn't run over and hug Haley. They hugged as she passed him on the way over to the sit with Lauren. Although I have not been a Scotty fan in Season 10, I will say he had the decency to realize that his moment of triumph was one of deep disappointment to another. As the camera panned to Lauren, she couldn't have cared less about James getting the boot, but was getting up with a smile to go over and hug Scotty.

Perhaps it is the fault of the person who decided the person who is safe should be announced first. In the infamous Chris Daughtry moment, right after telling him that a lot of people predicted he could be the next American idol, Ryan pronounced "Chris, you are going home tonight" in a voice he usually uses to say "you are safe." No wonder Daughtry was flabbergasted!

Still, when done properly, announcing the last eliminated person before proclaiming the winner's triumph seems like a more sensible way of doing it.

Haley recovered quickly and graciously, thanked everyone for her idol journey and put her all into her "Bennie and the Jets" performance. Even though reporters tried to get a sour grapes comment, like they did with Pia Toscano, Jacob Lusk, Casey Abrams and James Durbin, it didn't happen. Haley had nothing but gratitude for her stint on "American Idol," and best wishes for the Top Two.

So there you have it. If they don't change back to the old way of separating the elimination from the winner, we'll probably be watching a lot more orphan in the storm moments. It's just not right to have everyone clapping wildly for the winner and then it's like, oh by the way, you lost. If they insist on doing it that way, contestants who take the news a little harder than others shouldn't be skewered for it. Finally, I'd still like to know what Haley said to Lauren on the stage.

Sources: Embedded