Mario's Idol Sub Is 'Horrible,' says Simon

By Stephen M. Silverman

03/17/2005 at 08:00 AM EST

American Idol aspirant Nikko Smith got his big break when he replaced frontrunner Mario Vazquez – who dropped out of the competition last weekend – but things didn't look so great for the son of baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith.

The fill-in managed to survive Wednesday night's elimination round, but Smith's rendition of "I Want You Back" on Tuesday night was deemed "horrible" by judge Simon Cowell.

Still, Smith hung on. Lindsay Cardinale, a 20-year-old university student from Ponchatoula, La, wasn't so lucky. Her rendition of "Knock on Wood" inspired Cowell to knock her with the words, "I think 30 million TV sets in America had their volume turned down simultaneously."

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Narrowly escaping the exit door were Mikalah Gordon and Jessica Sierra, who ranked among the bottom three, just above Cardinale in the voter tally. On the program, host Ryan Seacrest said that nearly 30 million viewers had placed their votes – the most of any round outside the finals.

The show opened with all dozen contestants singing "When You Tell Me That You Love Me."

The fourth season finale is scheduled for May 24-25, at which point one of the singers will be awarded a $1 million recording contract. Before then, one more earnest hopeful will get the boot next week.