Megan Joy Corkrey Eliminated from "American Idol" on April Fool's Day

On Wednesday, April 1^st, 2009, the three individuals I had predicted would be in the bottom 3 were, as predicted, in the bottom 3, and the one individual I had predicted would be cut. In other words, Megan Corkrey, was, in fact, given her walking papers.

With 36 million votes cast, there were few surprises. Allison Irahita, Anoop Desai, and Megan Corkrey were called out as the lowest vote-getters. There was some confusion on Matt Giraud's part as to whether he was "safe" or whether he should move to the seats with the 3 lowest vote-getters. Master of Ceremonies Ryan Seacrest yelled "April Fool's, Sucker," as Matt stumbled over to the "saved" performers, after first heading toward the loser side of town.

When Megan was revealed to be the lowest vote-getter, Simon Cowell rather cold-bloodedly announced that this would be her "swan song," as the judges would not consider using the one "judges' save" that they are entitled to use this season to save the tattooed blonde. Megan, with her characteristic ungainly movements, sang her Bob Marley song ("Turn the Lights Down Low") again and told her "baby" that she was coming home. Only later, did we see tears on her face in a background shot, as she seemed to be expecting the elimination.

A bit of levity was injected into the competition when various contestants imitated each other, Allison Irahita mimicking Danny Gokey, Gokey mimicking Matt Giraud's "Coldplay" song, etc. The group does seem to have a certain "joie de vivre" gallows humor ongoing, although other years' groups have seemed cohesive, too.

The 9 contestants have now shrunk to 8 and, more importantly, there are only 2 girls left in the competition: Lil Rounds and Allison Irahita. It's beginning to look more and more as though it will be an all-male final.