WTF?!?!?! And So it Begins. . .

I've made it a habit since the first year I did this to NOT begin blogging until the Final 12 were announced. However, I absolutely CANNOT let last night's show go by without comment.

What, I say, what, were they thinking?? Last night's show was all about winnowing down the current contestants to the Top 36. Several things went terribly wrong and left me feeling: 1) cheated, 2) annoyed, and 3) scammed.

1) Jamar Rogers was told he wasn't advancing to the Top 36. If you don't already know, Jamar is the best friend of Danny Gokey (already my choice to win). Granted, Jamar doesn't have a voice as good as Danny's, but he CERTAINLY deserved to advance.

2) And especially if they kept Tatiana, the super-annoying, egotistical chick from Puerto Rico that EVERYONE dislikes!! I mean, it was fully 45 seconds until anyone even half-heartedly applauded in the holding room when she burst in screaming and cackling that she had made it. No one likes her, not even the viewers. And she doesn't even have a great voice to make up for her annoying nature. Yes, she'll be good for the show as controversy and to create drama, but really?? Tatiana stays and Jamar goes??

3) Last two guys of the day, who were both asked to sing to "prove they should advance": technically, whoever won the "sing-off" would be #36 unless they ALREADY knew that Joanna Pacitti was going to be disqualified. However, they advanced both of them, which should have brought the total to Top 37. But it didn't. How did that work?

I was sitting there holding out hope that, when they advanced both of the last two guys, they would call Tatiana back and tell her they changed their minds, had to cut someone because they had too many. But, they didn't, and today announced that they were replacing Joanna with Felicia Barton. So, they planned all along to advance both of the last two guys. Smells like a scam!!

I was already sick of Simon saying "I don't picture him winning". Criminy, I don't picture most of them winning, Simon, because only one of them CAN win. We all know going in, even when it gets to the Final 12, that they won't all win. And, guess what? I don't picture all of them making it to the Top 3, either!! DUH!!

Seeing Jamar get turned down reminded me of when they jettisoned Josiah last year. Oh well, at least a couple of the judges' "educated" decisions winds up biting them in the asses during the season. I'm predicting their decision to keep Tatiana will create HUGE problems for them.

Okay, so for ratings they kept her. I'm theorizing that perhaps they let Jamar go to see if Danny can make it without his constant support. Who knows what they're thinking??

Still, there's rumored to be a "wild card" element to this year's competition, where either voting American OR the judges can bring back one contestant at some point. I'm hoping it won't be limited to post-Top 36 contestants and that they see the error of their ways and bring Jamar back. He would DEFINITELY be a threat.

Don't even get me started on Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle. . .