by Gina Scarpa

It's always nice when the judges use their save on American Idol... until you remember that now two people have to go home this week. Things don't kick off on tonight's elimination episode with a cornball medley. Instead, the contestants are split into groups to perform together and first up are Lauren and Scotty with "I Told You So", which you may have seen Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis perform together on Idol two years ago.

Immediately after performing, the two are brought to the center of the stage to find out the voting results. They're both safe! Next up is Naima and Jacob, singing Ashford and Simpson's "Solid". Yeah, I have no idea why either. After the show, Ryan lets Naima know that she's in the bottom three and Jacob know that he's safe.

Season 3 winner Fantasia returns to perform her new single, "Collard Greens and Cornbread". I don't remember her always talking and singing like that... is that a character voice? I hope you enjoyed that performance because I'm fairly confident you'll never hear it on a radio station.

Haley, Pia, and Thia are up next with Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream". It sounded like the backup singers were drowning them out so it was hard to really gauge their performance. Afterwards, we find out that Pia and Haley are safe and Thia is left in the bottom three.

Last week, James mentioned a band that had formed among him and some of his fellow contestants. Tonight, it's their debut performance. James, Paul, Casey, and Stefano perform "Band On The Run" by Wings. It's great news for Casey afterwards - he's safe! James and Stefano are also safe, which means that Paul is the last person to join the bottom three.

There's some serious talent in the house as Jamie Foxx and Will.i.Am perform their song "Hot Wings" from the animated movie Rio.  Great performance but were there any other words in that song besides "I wanna party, I wanna samba"?

It's time for the moment of truth.  Paul is safe and Naima and Thia are both out of the competition.  Surprised?

Don't miss the Top 9 take the stage on American Idol, Wednesday at 8/7c on FOX.

(Image courtesy of FOX)

Follow Gina @ginascarpa