Top 7 Minus 1 - Martina McBride Performs (and Fergie)!

They're dragging this out for an hour!? Again!?

They certainly spend enough time on Simon's apology. Sheesh.

The group hoedown is alright.

Fergie kicks butt and takes names.

Is anyone else ready to gag at the 'Sponge Bob No Pants' commercial?

The contestant Ford commercial was pretty good, especially in contrast to Sponge Bob.

The AI Gives Back entertainment lineup sounds pretty awesome.

Elimination: starting with Sanjaya on one side and Phil on the other makes it vague to start, but when Jordin joins Phil, it becomes much clearer. Chris joins the high end; Lakisha and Blake join Sanjaya. Then they tell poor Belinda she's safe and make her pick between the groups. She declines, staging a non-violent sit-down protest of civil disobedience (Yay, Ghandi!), and is told to join the clear winners in Jordin's group. Randy is as surprised as I am that Blake is in the bottom 3. I'm a bit surprised that Lakisha is there, but apparently I really missed a crucial performance. Naturally, I'm glad to see Sanjaya there, but I have to wonder if the Dark Force will prevail once again and result in Lakisha's dismissal. I really can't see Blake going down just yet.

The whole Shrek 3 thing was little more than a blatant commercial. Ryan, the AI talk show host, with guests plugging their next film.

Martina McBride performs wonderfully, singing, 'Sing It Anyway', which is a poignantly apt song for an elimination show.

Blake is safe, not surprisingly. Will Sanjaya finally meet his end? YES!!!!! The audience is clearly pleased. Lakisha has one more chance to change her approach, barring a massive screw-up on someone else's part.

He has fun with his final performance: 'Let's Give Them Something To Talk About' - other than hair!...LOL!

See ya next week!

...John