From americanidol.com:
EPISODE RECAPS
Thursday, April 7th 2011
April Fools?
by The AI Insider
"River deep, mountain high, if I lost you would I cry?"
For the third week in a row, the show started with a potentially foreshadowing sentence: "This is what could be a very shocking results show tonight." Ryan Seacrest says that every week now, which is becoming anything but a shocker.
Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson, and Steven Tyler walked out on stage, and it appeared to be "Interesting Pants Night" on American Idol. I wonder if Gwen Stefani had anything to do with that.
The Top 9 rocked out to a mash-up of rock songs. The ladies sang "I Love Rock 'n Roll" and the guys sang "Sweet Home Alabama," and I heard a little bit of "The Letter" in there.
After watching this week's music video, we saw footage from earlier in the week when the Top 9 were surprised by Russell Brand. The funny man gave tips and pointers to the Idols on how to perform, including balancing on one leg while holding the other up by your ear. Russell talked about the need to get into the judges' heads to see what they're thinking, but he could easily do that, as he's married to a Season 9 American Idol guest judge!
After that fun escape, it was results time. One-third of the contestants would be in the bottom three tonight. I'm good at math; I taught Randy Jackson everything he knows about percentages. Ryan had Casey Abrams, Stefano Langone, and Lauren Alaina join him on the stage. After making a "From Justin to Kelly" reference, Ryan told Casey he was safe. Lauren was also safe, but she wasn't safe in the bleachers--she tripped as she was scaling them. And that's not the first time she's tripped on camera! That meant Stefano was the first finalist in the bottom 3.
Constantine Maroulis helped pave the way for rockers on American Idol, and the Tony-nominee returned to the American Idol stage to perform "Unchained Melody." I thought he should sing an '80s rock song from "Rock of Ages," but he sounded great with The Righteous Brothers' song (that Lauren Alaina sang twice during the audition process). He had a scarf on his microphone, which was very Steven Tyler of him. Come to think of it, Constantine looks like Russell Brand, only Russell is doe-eyed and Constantine makes "sexy" eyes at the camera.
We saw footage of Gwen Stefani styling the Top 3 girls. She was nervous to style them, but how cool for the girls to work with such a big star! She ended her fashion session with "Cuddles," her cutesy nickname for hugs.
Back to business, Ryan called Paul McDonald, Scotty McCreery, and Pia Toscano over. After recapping their performances, Ryan revealed that Scotty and Paul were safe, and for the first time Pia was in the bottom three. Okay, wow, that is shocking!
The finalists were really getting the star treatment this week. They went to TMZ to find out how to handle press, and the TMZ staff poked fun at some of their quirks.
The final group of three was called up, and one would be in the bottom. James Durbin, Haley Reinhart, and Jacob Lusk all had strong performances, but it was Jacob who landed in the bottom three for the first time.
A shirtless Iggy Pop performed "Wild One" on the Idol stage. I would question the decision to not wear a shirt, but to have abs like that at 63--no need to cover 'em up! After the performance Ryan commented, "I think I need to cut out carbs after seeing that."
It was time for the "could be very shocking" news. Ryan did a huge fake-out to make everyone think Jacob was going home, when in fact he was safe. It came down to Stefano and Pia, and Ryan said Pia was leaving us tonight. WHAT?! Time stood still and jaws dropped as one of the strongest voices on Idol was eliminated. Ryan said, "We can't end it this way." Yay! April Fools? No, it's 6 days too late. Another save? Save! Save! Save! Darn, my chanting didn't work. Ryan just meant that it was time for Pia to sing her swan song. The judges and contestants stood up with mouths agape as Pia attempted to get through "I'll Stand By You," but she seemed a little out of sorts, as she very well should be.
I'm sure many people will "stand by [Pia]" as she embarks on her post-Idol journey. Until next week, I'll be doing finger flexes and calisthenics to get ready for some serious Top 8 voting.
