It may not be the name of the show she's on, but man, is that Kristy Lee Cook a survivor.
Week after week, the girl delivers routine performance after routine performance and yet, in a situation vaguely reminiscent of last year's Sanjaya-gate, she manages to never get kicked off.
And this isn't one of those Howard Stern or votefortheworst-driven campaigns (VFTW has actually been encouraging people to pledge their support for Amanda Overmyer — the, um, one who just got nixed.)
Kristy, who keeps getting relegated to the bottom three only to somehow escape elimination, just seems to keep on keeping on no matter what she does.
Is it her inarguably adorable looks that keep saving her? Or does America simply gun for a gal who loves horses? Beats me. But she's living proof that remaining on the show past your expiration date doesn't look like much fun.
I'm actually starting to feel bad for her — all she seems to do these days is sing badly, defend herself against Simon's criticism and walk across the stage to where the bottom three sit. America, put this girl out of her misery and get her out of there, will ya?
Of course, I'm not going to argue that Amanda Overmyer was long for this competition either. I mean, the girl was great when she was doing Joplin, but that's not much of a range and it didn't serve her too well when it's, say, Beatles night.
But her don't-mess-with-me demeanor at least made her interesting to watch, if only because you could never be quite sure what she was going to say or do next.
I'm not entirely certain what Carly Smithson was doing in the bottom three, but then again, it's hard to imagine who else would have made sense. David Archuleta and Jason Castro are clearly racking up the votes, while Brooke White has delivered so many solid performances that her mini stumble with "Here Comes the Sun" (which I actually didn't think was nearly as awkward as everyone else did) couldn't put her in much danger.
David Cook has also hit his stride by firmly establishing himself as the resident rocker. And I think we're all secretly or not-so-secretly rooting for Michael Johns, who, I'm pleased to note, got to show off a bit of his charm during the results show — by comparing his acting to Susan Lucci's during the Ford video shoot, and then by his knee-buckling reaction to the news that he was in the Top 10.
That leaves Syesha Mercado, Chikezie and my girl Ramiele Malubay. And well, Syesha had a good week. While Chikezie and Ramiele didn't fare as well, Chikezie has been so consistently good that it was easy to overlook his jaunt into harmonica-land.
Ramiele, meanwhile, may well the most likable non-Archuleta that's ever lived. (Did you catch when Ryan called her "Ramie?" I'm sorry, but that's just a very cute nickname.)
Who knows how much any of that matters? I mean, at the rate she's going, Kristy Lee Cook may well actually be standing long past all the rest of them and win the whole thing.
Anna David is a freelance writer. Her novel, "Party Girl," is in stores.
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