Mikalah Gordon Knocked Off American Idol

By Stephen M. Silverman

Friday March 25, 2005 08:00 AM EST

Mikalah Gordon

FOX

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It seemed a foregone conclusion on Wednesday that Mikalah Gordon, 17, from Las Vegas, would be this week's American Idol castoff, but the official goodbye couldn't happen until a special half-hour Thursday episode of the FOX talent hunt following Tuesday's phone-number snafu.

But now Gordon is gone, and the game is down to 10.

Show host Ryan Seacrest claimed Wednesday night's revote generated an incredible 31 million votes, bettering the previous week's total of about 30 million.

In the bottom three, besides Gordon were Nadia Turner and Anthony Federov, though he quickly returned to safety.

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Turner's fall from grace may have had something to do with her new Mohawk haircut. She sang Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time."

Gordon, the youngest Idol finalist, sang Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back." Judge Simon Cowell called her performance "a complete and utter mess."

Afterwards, Seacrest told Gordon that her "journey ended here."