Michael Johns Eliminated Off American Idol

There is something seriously wrong here. To the American Idol voters: what happened? This is the part of American Idol that I truly hate: when someone justly talented, good looking, and worthy of being a star (and did I mention good looking?) gets voted off of American Idol prematurely.

I'm not saying that all of America has to agree with me and also has to be infatuated with the internet-labeled "hot Aussie" Michael Johns. The issue at hand is that, up until this week, American Idol fans all seemed to agree that Michael Johns was entertaining enough to keep voting for him and to continually keep him completely clear of the bottom three. Then, during Michael's very first encounter in the bottom three, he gets eliminated.

American Idol voters didn't even see it coming; they didn't even have a chance to send extra votes next week to save him. A travesty! So here's where the problem lies: Michael Johns was somewhere floating (supposedly) safe in the "middle-ish" range... He wasn't one of the very strongest contenders, but for weeks he always ranked around third or fourth in the various informal ranking systems put on by sites such as dialidol.com, idolrankings.com, and TVguide.com. So what appears to be happening is that fans are sending the obvious votes out for their absolute favorites, and also sending extra votes out for their personal favorite who might have been in the bottom three the week before, in hopes they can help him or her avoid the chopping block during the next elimination night (obviously what has been happening with Kristy Lee Cook week after week). Unfortunately, everyone thinks that everyone else is voting for the "middle-ish" range contestants... which costs contestants like Michael Johns a huge amount of votes, and ends up getting them eliminated prematurely!

In comparison with some of the other contestants still on the show, especially Kristy Lee Cook and Syesha Mercado, Michael Johns was always down-right consistent. Every week he picked a song in which he was able to showcase both his vocal talent as well as his performing ability. Through the weeks he had even showed improved confidence, and really should have been increasing his fan base as the number of contestants on the show dropped. Compliments from the judges were almost always of a positive tone, even calling him a "star" very early on in the competition. Michael John's Tuesday-night performance of "Dream On" seemed as solid as ever, and though the judges' comments were mixed, there was nothing extremely negative that would have swayed American Idol voters drastically one way or the other.

As mentioned above, Kristy Lee Cook or Syesha Mercado would have definitely have been better candidates for elimination on last night's show. Both girls have been in the bottom three multiple times (a record-setting number of times for Kristy Lee Cook!), showing that American Idol voters are starting to lose interest in their performances or deciding that their talent isn't up to par with the other contestants. Kristy Lee Cook has shown an immense amount of inconsistency, which reflects in the judges' comments from week to week: Simon stating one week that she was "not a good performer" and then another week telling her "that was good." Syesha Mercado has a similar issue with the judges, who are rarely pleased with her song choice nor her ability to sing it. American Idol voters do seem to be affected by this because they regularly have placed these girls in the bottom three. Bottom line, there are others on the show that are far less talented than Michael Johns and who are much more deserving to be sent home.

Aside from the voting issues, I do need to point out one other issue from last night's elimination show: Ryan Seacrest's inappropriate comments right before saying goodbye to Michael Johns. Ryan Seacrest is famous for adding all kinds of twists in the show, and no one can ever be sure who is safe and who is going home -- even up to the very last second. Last night was no different; he brought out the contestants in a different fashion, leaving only the members of the 'bottom three' backstage. Once they were identified, Ryan Seacrest then made it even more confusing who was truly safe. Then, when he announced that Michael Johns had received the lowest number of votes, Ryan recalled how during last year's "Idol Gives Back" show, they ended up not eliminating anyone. At that moment, the sparkle of hope in Michael's eye was actually noticeable, and the world seemed to hold it's breath. Then, just as quickly, Ryan dashed all hope by stating that this year was different, and that Michael Johns was in fact going home. This facet of the show was not needed and seemed, at most, rude. Shame on you, Ryan Seacrest.

I suppose the lesson for all American Idol fans and voters is that we all need to vote for each contestant that we want to keep on the show, and never assume that anyone is going to be safe. Even though I am very sad to see Michael Johns go, I am sure that he will have a successful career ahead of him, with or without American Idol, and I will be waiting to see what is in his future of performing.

Sources:

"Idolrankings.com", Idol Rankings

James Hellriegel Jr., "Dialidol.com", Dial Idol

The Idol Chatters, "Top 9 Power Rankings: David Cook's a Thriller," TV Guide