Tuesday night six-pack

Anthony Fedorov, 19, Trevose, Pa.: What does it say about Fedorov that he not only chose to sing Celine Dion's "I Surrender," but he said he had been wanting to sing that song for weeks? It might be better not to even think about it. The vocals were OK, though Randy Jackson accurately pointed out that the high notes sounded a lot better than the low ones.
Grade: B-
Fun fact: Fedorov's parents have a tape of him singing when he was about a year and a half old. Could that be a bonus track on his first CD?
The judges: "I personally hated it. But a large part of this competition is picking songs that are appealing to people who like you, and you did that tonight." – Simon Cowell.
Stay or go: Do people really expect or want Fedorov to cover Celine Dion ballads? Fedorov is always tough to predict – like Scott Savol, he survives each week in spite of lukewarm reviews from the judges. There was nothing objectionable about his performance this time around, but he's still far from safe.

Constantine Maroulis, 29, New York: Perhaps a little overconfident, or perhaps feeling a little additional pressure after his former band signed a record deal, Maroulis went away from his strength and went back to being a rocker, singing Nickelback's "How You Remind Me." It did a good job of showing off Maroulis' weaknesses – he sounds like a run-of-the-mill cover artist when he sings rock songs, and it didn't give him many openings for his usual theatrics (not that he didn't try). Maroulis is not going to win a rock-off with Bo Bice, and it wasn't smart of him to make the attempt.
Grade: C+
The judges: "It felt like I was sitting in a bar in any town in America. The performance was good, but the singing … for me, out of 10 it was a 5.'" – Randy Jackson.
Stay or go: This week will be a good test of whether Maroulis has a reservoir of support that will vote for him whether he's on his game or not. It was a very average performance, and by its merits should put him in the bottom three. But he hasn't been there all season, so odds are good he'll stick around.

Scott Savol, 28, Shaker Heights, Ohio: The judges all clearly feel that Savol has overstayed his welcome – none of the three had any praise at all for his rendition of Luther Vandross' "Dance with My Father." Record companies won't be clamoring to release his cover version of the song or anything, but it wasn't as bad as the judges made it sound. However, Savol's never really been much of a performer, and that may come back to hurt him here with Randy and Paula criticizing his vocals.
Grade: C
Fun fact: Savol has a four-year old son, named Brandon.
The judges: "Pack your bags." – Simon Cowell.
Stay or go: Let's be honest … if the voters based their opinions on Savol on what the judges said, he'd have been gone a month ago. He's the odds-on favorite to be sent packing, but he clearly has a sizeable fan base and they clearly vote in bulk every week. So who knows?

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

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