Idol Elimination Night: Farewell, Ramiele
Posted Wed. Apr 2, 10:20 PM ET by Lyndsey Parker in Reality Rocks
Since the top 24 started singing for their proverbial suppers, I've
been declaring that it's going to be a boy-on-boy finale come this
May. From the Davids to Michael to Jason, the men have definitely
been outshining the women all season long. So accordingly, things
were looking pretty shady for the ladies this elimination night.

Kristy Lee Cook made her umpteenth appearance in the bottom three,
and two other girls--Ramiele Malubay and Brooke White--finally got a
chance to discover firsthand just how uncomfortable those three
reject stools really are. Ouch!

Honestly, it was only a matter of time before Ramiele ended up in the
bottom three. Surprisingly, she hadn't made it there yet--despite
several lackluster performances that should have landed her on the
chopping block weeks ago. So it was ironic that Ram finally bottomed
out this week, just as she was starting to get her groove back. I
personally thought her performance of "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?"
last night was her best attempt since Hollywood Week--not great,
exactly, but definitely an improvement over her past snoozefests. But
I guess the voting public didn't agree. Guess it didn't ever cross
their mind to vote for Ramiele.

Also ironic was the fact that Kristy, a former Arista Nashville
recording artist and the only country singer this season, ended up in
the bottom three this week--the week that DOLLY PARTON was the
special-guest mentor. It was country week, so it should have been
Kristy's time to shine. But I don't even think Dolly was impressed
with Kristy last night. And apparently the voting public wasn't
impressed, either.

And then there was Brooke--like Ramiele, another bottom-three rookie.
Brooke has been one of my personal fave females this season, but I do
think America got it right this time. Because Brooke's performance
of "Jolene" had none of the passion or anguish or drama of Dolly's
incendiary original--come to think of it, it had none of the passion
or anguish or drama of Brooke's finest cover song from earlier this
season, Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield." Seriously, "Jolene" is
the battle cry of a desperate lover fighting tooth-and-nail for her
man...yet Brooke sang the tune with about as much conviction as
Britney Spears at the 2007 VMAs. (Minus Britney's bad lingerie and
leadfooted dance steps, of course--which would at least made things
more interesting than Brooke's ho-hum jugband approach.)

My point is, Brooke certainly didn't deserve to leave at this point
in the competition (spoiler alert: she thankfully didn't), but she
did deserve to be in the bottom three this week. Her "Jolene"
performance was so phoned-in, it should have been sponsored by AT&T.

By the way, for those keeping tracking at home: I predicted that
Brooke and Kristy would get the fewest votes this week, along with
Jason Castro. Well, I'm not exactly Miss Cleo this week...but hey,
two out of three ain't bad!

Anyway, as the three ladies-in-waiting sat around nervously
anticipating Ryan's reading of the results, Dolly got up onstage,
performed "Jesus And Gravity," and showed 'em all what a true star
really looks like. If Kristy, Ramiele, or Brooke had delivered a
performance even remotely as fun or feisty as Dolly's, they all would
have been safe this week. Dolly just rules, period.

And then Ryan read the results...and somewhat shockingly, turns out
it was Ramiele's time to go. This wasn't a bad call on America's
part, but it was a bit of a shocker, considering it was Ramiele's
first time in the bottom three (while Kristy's had so many near-
brushes with elimination, I've lost count).

Also, I feel that this was a week focusing on Kristy's specialty
genre held her to a higher standard--meaning her poor showing should
have been judged more harshly. In short, I would have preferred it if
Kristy had been cut, but Ramiele leaving wasn't exactly a great
injustice. Kristy will probably be in the bottom three next week
anyway...

Finally, I still suspect that it was those unflattering, body-
deforming, high-waisted pants that ultimately lead to Ramiele's
downfall. So who knows...if Kristy keeps wearing waistbands that
actually hit at the proper point right above her hipbone, she may end
up remaining in this race for quite a while...