Shocking night on ‘American Idol’

Yamin sang well and the judges love him to pieces, but he hasn’t found it easy to connect with the audience and always looks uncomfortable on stage. His spot in the bottom three was a surprise, but not a shock. Bennett’s demotion came out of nowhere, since she’s one of the favorites and came through with a strong performance.

Bennett’s only 17, and the cameras usually catch her crying every Wednesday night as though she’s genuinely surprised that once again somebody is leaving the show for good. But upon receiving the bad news she was as calm as a veteran performer, chirped out her answers to Ryan Seacrest’s questions, and was rewarded with the news that she was safe.

That left Yamin and Mandisa onstage. Both looked like they were prepared to face the firing squad, but Yamin gets at least another week to hunt for an on-stage personality that matches his voice.

Ironically, while McPhee’s appearance in the bottom three last week was more likely a blip than a sign of her imminent demise, she benefited along with Young and Covington from the fact that "American Idol" continually refuses to release the weekly vote totals. The secrecy can create a disincentive to vote.

That’s not the intent, of course — the show’s producers likely feel that if a Chris Daughtry fan knows that he’s been in the top two every single week, that fan won’t have much incentive to burn up the phone lines to keep him safe.

The actual result, however, is that the only people who know they have to make every effort to vote early and often are those fans of singers known  to be in trouble.

McPhee was in the bottom three last week, Young’s been there a couple of times, and Covington is always one bad note away from disaster. Particularly with the two men, fans know that they need to vote as often as possible to keep them on the show.

Mandisa’s fans might not have felt that sense of urgency, since she hadn’t even sniffed danger for the first three months of the season. Not all surprises are pleasant ones.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.

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