Megan Joy gets kicked off ‘American Idol’

This week's elimination was no surprise on "American Idol," except the manner in which it came.

Megan Joy seemed to know she was on her way out, and made her last night a memorable one. She flapped and cawed her way to her seat in the bottom three, hammed it up for the cameras throughout the night, and even told Simon Cowell at the top of the show that she didn't care about his feedback.

Of the five contestants eliminated thus far, she was the least surprised to be sent packing. Given that she had struggled every week, except for the one when she had the flu, it was the expected outcome.

No pressure: The judges made it abundantly clear that Joy didn't need to feel that she was singing with anything at stake on Wednesday. "With the greatest respect, when you said that you don't care (about his feedback) ... neither do we," Simon said. No Judges' Save would be forthcoming for Joy.

Coming back to where it began: David Cook sang his single "Come Back to Me," and the Idol folks gave him a gift — a plaque honoring his debut album going platinum. It was an unsubtle way of reminding folks that sometimes the winners here do go on to become best-selling artists. Cook was quick to reciprocate the props, noting that his last album, a solo effort in 2006, sold 1,000 copies in a year. That's slightly less than his post-"Idol" figures.

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We are Flintstone Kids: As a performer, Allison Iraheta gets better every week. As a fashionista, not so much. She made it through this week despite her cavewoman outfit on Tuesday, but considering that she's already been in the bottom three twice this season, it might behoove her to save the costumes for the "Idol Salute to the Monster Mash" theme night.

She hears the boos: Kara DioGuardi addressed the dustup Tuesday night that saw her spar with an audience member following Joy's performance. Though she didn't offer details on what was said, she said she felt like the heckling made her one of the gang. "I appreciate the audience and their passion," Kara said. "No, you don't," Simon responded.

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Won't get fooled again: Matt Giraud was in the bottom three a week ago despite being praised by the judges. This week, he got slammed and was expecting the worst, which naturally made him prey for Ryan Seacrest's sleight of hand. Sure enough, he walked the wrong way before being told he was safe. "April Fools', sucker," Kris Allen said in greeting, though considering Allen falls for that gag almost every week, he shouldn't be the one laying the smack down.

Impressionism: As part of this week's "behind the scenes" feature, producers showed Giraud doing a wicked Danny Gokey impression. Ryan offered Gokey a chance to return the favor on Wednesday, and Gokey responded with a cold mimic of Giraud's failure singing a Coldplay song. It was worse than the original. Later, second-lowest vote-getter Anoop Desai mimicked Allen, and Iraheta did her own version of Gokey. Next week's theme may be changed to "American Idol does ... American Idol."

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

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