"American Idol" judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson. (AP) ( )
"American Idol" delivered an action-packed episode on Wednesday as five contestants made it to the Top 24, one early favorite went home and another contestant got married.
First, let's review who's definitely in the Top 24. Naima Adedapo -- the custodian who cleans toilets at musical festivals -- is in. So is Clint Jun Gamboa, the karaoke host who was nasty to 15-year-old Jacee Badeaux; second-time contestant Haley Reinhart, who looked truly shocked to make the semifinals; Paul McDonald, the quirky "rhinestone cowboy"; and spunky Ashthon Jones.
Chris Medina, sadly, wasn't so lucky. America fell in love with Chris when we learned how he cares for his beautiful fiancée, Juliana, who suffered a brain injury in an accident. Chris has had some promising performances, but he botched Coldplay's "Fix You" (which happens to be one of our favorite songs). A tearful Jennifer Lopez was devastated to give Chris the news, and seemed reluctant to return for the rest of the eliminations. (Somehow, we suspect she'll pull it together and return with eye-catching new shades of lipstick and nail polish.)
Hollie Cavanagh -- the emotional 17-year-old who was given "one more chance" from J-Lo -- also got the boot, despite Lopez's insistence that she deserved to stay.
Earlier, in Vegas, we learned which of the other contestants had performed a Beatles song well enough to make it to the Top 40 -- and which had not. Front-runner Lauren Alaina made the cut, but for once, her gimmicky "Marx brothers" routine failed to impress the judges, and she was often seen in tears.
Fifteen-year-old Thia Megia, deep-voiced Scott McCreery, Jordan Dorsey and future boy bander Robbie Rosen also made the Top 40.
See the contestants perform during Las Vegas Week.
But along with the White House intern (the one with the "platonic" crush on President Obama), we finally said goodbye to Ashley Sullivan, who has been a bit … unstable in recent weeks. Ironically, Sullivan seemed happier and more confident than ever as the judges sent her home. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she, um, got married in Vegas -- at the same chapel where Britney Spears celebrated her first doomed union.
Sullivan seemed very proud to wed at the site of such storied pop culture history, even though everyone in America knows that marriage only lasted 55 hours. But just when we were starting to think that Ashley might be more psychologically healthy than we thought, she issued this warning to her fiancé: "If you get cold feet, I don't care -- you're going through with it or I'll kill you in your sleep, my precious."
Good luck with that one, dude!
On Thursday, we'll find out who else made it to the Top 24 -- and yes, we have resisted looking at that unconfirmed list that's been floating around.
—Jennifer D'Angelo Friedman, Pop News Wire
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