TV Show: American Idol

'American Idol' boots Brooke
By LINDSEY WARD - Sun Media

Diamond wasn't Brooke White's best friend on "American Idol" Wednesday night.
Speculations over whether Brooke White will wear her hair curly or straight from one week to the next have ended for good.

The 24-year-old nanny from Van Nuys, Calif., was pulled from American Idol's Top 5 Wednesday night.

"I just want to say thank you," the blonde folkie said in tears before attempting to sing herself out with Neil Diamond's I Am ... I Said.

A piano player with a big heart, White nodded knowingly when Ryan Seacrest told her her time on Idol was up. The aforementioned track as well as her rendition of Diamond's I'm a Believer -- which Simon Cowell dismissed as "karaoke" -- did her in for good after Tuesday's performance episode.

Damn. She was one of my favourites. Though recently it seemed she had lost the competitive edge she never really had, instead expressing how grateful she was just to be there -- a sure sign Idol voters would stop caring as well. And they did.

Syesha Mercado held the second spot in the bottom two, meaning Jason Castro was completely safe. Again.

And while the voting results are usually what Idol viewers anticipate most on a Wednesday night, this week everyone was wondering what sort of damage control would be implemented after the whole PaulaGate incident.

On Tuesday, Abdul sparked a blogging frenzy after critiquing Jason Castro on two songs when he had only sung one -- a supposed result of the performance episode switching its format so the judges would provide a brief critique after the first song, and save their full commentary until the contenders had sung twice.

Her utter confusion ("Oh gosh, we've never had to write these things down ... fast enough ..." she mumbled) was painfully awkward, got her enough bad press to last the rest of her career, and, best of all, garnered the mishap a nickname with the word "gate" at the end of it.

And yet, the woman of the hour appeared uncommonly poised, kept her stuttering to a minimum and even took shots at Cowell on Wednesday. But of course she was calm -- it was Ryan Seacrest who (as always) had to do the dirty work.

"Last night the judges were thrown a bit of a curveball on the air, which is part of a live show," the collected host began his vague explanation. "But it sparked a lot of gossip about Paula. I read some of this online this morning and just for the record, the rumours are not true. We love her and she's part of our family."

Ah yes, "the rumours." Would a humiliated Paula leave the show? Was she on something that night? If so, what was she on? Where can I get whatever she was on, and will it make watching amateur singers cover overplayed pop songs less painful for me as well? (Sorry, that last question just slipped.)

As if PaulaGate wasn't enough to get the interweb abuzz, Cowell's childhood crush -- and the first woman he ever kissed -- called in when the phone lines opened up for the show's weekly Q&A period. Tara Miller, 46, of California sweetly asked Cowell if he enjoyed his faux-kiss with Abdul a couple of seasons back was better or worse than the smooch he shared with her at age nine.

"Is this Tara Miller?" Cowell asked, dumbfounded, with a nostalgic glaze in his eyes. "Do you still look cute?"

Oh Simon -- you really ARE human, aren't you?

Thank gawd for British popster Natasha Bedingfield and mentor-de-jour Neil Diamond, whose strong guest performances on Wednesday were breaths of fresh air on what has been a helluva week. Sigh.

By golly, there's only four kids left: Jason Castro, Syesha Mercado, David Cook and David Archuleta. No word yet on what they'll be singing next week, but surely it will rock your world. Or something like that.