On American Idol, a Bad Song Bites Another Singer

There was no celebrity mentor to help the Idol hopefuls along this week as they prepared for their usual Tuesday night performance. This week the singers relied on the expertise of vocal coach, former Ladyflash member and longtime back up singer for pop icon and past "American Idol" mentor Barry Manilow, Debra Byrd.

Even with all of Byrd's help, some Idol hopefuls could not avoid the bottom three due mostly to a bad song choice. After a spot of fun with singers impersonating each other, host Ryan Seacrest divided the nine singers into groups of three. As the show prepared for a break Seacrest teased the audience and fans by asking if the voters casting over 36 million votes got it right.

As it turned out one singer from each group landed in the bottom three - Megan Joy Corkley who west across the stage flapping her arms like a bird, Anoop Desai, and to the winner of Tuesday's bad costume award Allison Iraheta.

The reigning "American Idol" winner David Cook performed his new single "Come Back to Me" via a previously taped performance. Fans got a glimpse of the video fro the new song but may see the video in full at music.att.net. After his performance Cook was presented with a platinum album for his self titled debut album which signifies one million copies sold.

Lady Gaga performed her newest hit singe "Poker Face" while dancing around the stage in a performance that resembled a cabaret act or a modern day vaudeville act.

As one of the bottom three was saved, "American Idol" still has its youngest member, 16 year old Allison Iraheta.

It came down to Annop and Megan. When Megan's name was announced at the one with the lowest votes, Corkley replied, "It's OK". Even before she sang, Simon informed Megan that the judges would not be considering her to be saved; her performance would be her swan song.

As the show ended Ryan Seacrest announced the theme for next week that the remaining eight would be performing songs from the year they were born.

"American Idol" is touted as being a live show for fans in the eastern and central time zones with a tape delay for the mountain and pacific time zones. However, it has come to light recently that the sing-a-long performances are taped and lip synced, and that the solo performances by the Idol contestant are live.