by Gina Scarpa

After this week’s mediocre performance episode of American Idol, in which the Top 7 contestants had to perform popular songs from films, it was tough to predict who would end up in the bottom three.  Before the results can be read though, the 7 perform “I’m A Maniac” (this is the part of the show where you can feel free to hit your fast forward button or go grab a snack).  Time for the results now, you ask?  Not yet.  Seacrest acknowledges Zac Efron in the crowd, who is there promoting his movie “17 Again”, which hits theaters this Friday.  At long last, it’s time to find out who’s safe… and who’s not.

Allison is asked to stand first and is deemed safe, as is Adam.  Next up is Anoop and with two people already safe, it’s not exactly surprising when he is the first one called to the bottom three.  Jennifer Hudson returns to Idol for the first time to sing her song “If This Isn’t Love”.  She’s amazing incidentally.  It is still surprising to me, to this day, how early she left the competition.  Oh well.  It doesn’t seem she’s exactly hurtin’ for work.  Back to the results.

Kris and Lil stand together and Ryan informs Lil that she’ll be joining Anoop in the bottom three.  Last up is Matt and Danny.  Again, it’s no surprise when Matt  joins Anoop and Lil.  When it’s time to send someone back to safety, I assume it will be Matt, or at least Anoop.  No, it’s Lil!  What the?!   Not surprising enough?  Matt ends up getting eliminated!  He sings his stupid Bryan Adams song, the judges deliberate, and Simon tells him there’s no way he’s winning this competition.  Harsh, but true.  Just as I lower my head in defeat (I was quite the fan of Matt), Simon looks at him and says, “It’s good news.”

The judges have used their one and only save of the season on Matt Giraud.  Awesome.  However, that means that next week, there will be a double elimination and it’s disco week.  I can already think of a few people who are going to be in trouble.. but I hope one of those people isn’t Matt!

American Idol's Top 7 return to the stage Tuesday night at 8pm ET on FOX.

(Image courtesy of FOX)