Wednesday's Idol: Gina Goes Home
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Episode 27
When Ryan Seacrest asked whether Simon Cowell was surprised to see Gina Glocksen and Haley Scarnato standing alone on stage as the week's bottom-two singers, the judge looked up and smiled. Seacrest gave him a scolding, and rightly so: because it was the two poor girls waiting for his opinion, and both were so clearly ready to break down. When Gina's name was the one called, they sobbed and hugged.Then, in another of those fine show-bizzy moments that pop up on Idol, Gina got to reprise her song from Tuesday night: "Smile." If there had been large drops of water sploshing down onto the stage, those would have been the sentimental tears of Charlie Chaplin – who composed the melody – from the sky.
The emotions spiked unexpectedly high because 24 hours earlier the judges a) were clearly bored out of their gourds with Phil Stacey; b) seemed more impressed by Haley's dress and legs than her actual singing; c) were actually quite complimentary of Gina's subdued performance. She really deserved to stay longer – and Phil should be gone – but ultimately she never had a style that fit naturally on the show: Did you ever buy her as an authentic rocker, even with the pierced tongue? One sneer from Pat Benatar would have demolished her. But singing those old standards took too much of a deliberate effort from her. (That was Chris Daughtry's downfall last season.)
And Sanjaya stays. I want that to become my mantra. Sanjaya stays.
For more from last night, see AOL's Idol coverage.
