http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTUdUJC8O_0&feature=channel_video_title

Astro had the lowest number of votes, based on this performance Wednesday night

On tonight’s episode of The X Factor, two contestants went home and five moved on to the next round. My prediction would have been that Marcus Canty would have been one of the contestants headed home (he was in the bottom two last week) and maybe Astro.

After a recap of last night’s performances (you can see the final 7 contestant’s videos in this post), host Steve Host announced that Chris Rene, Melanie Amaro and Rachel Crow were through, leaving Drew, Astro, Marcus and Josh. One of them was through, one had the lowest votes, and the other two would sing.

I predicted Marcus to go home, Drew to go through, and Josh and Astro to sing off. Was I wrong, or what? Josh was through, Astro went home, and Marcus and Drew had a sing off.

Poor Drew was a bundle of nerves; she looked like she might melt into whoever was standing next to her. Marcus had been in the sing off position before so he was a little more composed.

Here are Drew’s and Marcus’ performances from last night; do you think they deserved to be in the bottom?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgJMw8spLtQ&feature=channel_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhDxPtfrq-U&feature=channel_video_title

Drew, as expected, knocked her “save me” song out of the park; of the two she’s undoubtedly the most talented. Marcus warbled out his song. He doesn’t sing as well, but he’s more energetic on stage.

Here’s the thing: both of them are super likeable, really genuine and sincere, and would not only make great recording artists but nice role models for fans.  But the final decision was the judges:

LA commented on how hard he’s been on Drew all season (for no reason, I might add, and not always in a very professional manner), and said that he really was torn in his decision, but he sent Drew home.

Simon apologized for putting Drew in this position and took responsibility for her slow song choice, then commented that it was the second time Marcus was in the bottom and he believed the person America wanted to continue was Drew; he sent Marcus home and begged the other judges to give her another chance.

Nicole, who has been as constantly critical of Drew as LA, for ridiculous reasons that have nothing to do with her talent but with their bickering with Simon, sent Drew home.

And Paula, who we all know can’t make a decision, was put in the position of breaking a tie. Send home Marcus, they go to deadlock and the contestant with the lowest number of votes goes home. Pick Drew, and she’s out. She said she was looking for a save me song that moved her … and more quickly than she usually decides, it was goodbye, Drew.

Drew was bawling hyserically while she hugged Marcus. (Just a thought: fans gave Astro a hard time for being a brat; being a crybaby isn’t really very attractive either. Can we coach these kids to be gracious onstage and break down offstage?) Simon refused to comment when Steve Jones asked if he had anything to say (Drew cried, Simon threw the tantrum). Melanie and Rachel came out to hug Drew, Jones introduced her recap and kind of threw his hands up in the air because no one was cooperating (poor Steve. It’s not an easy job wrangling these cats).

In the end, though, when asked for her last words, Drew blurted out, “Jesus love all of you guys,” adding that she felt like she was there to say that. (For more thoughts on why so many Christian contestants are showing up on shows like this, check out this post from a few years ago about Christian contestants on American Idol.)

Anyway, the final five performing next week are Chris, Melanie, Rachel, Josh and Marcus. They’ll each sing two songs, one of which will be chosen by fans. Until then, what do you think about tonight’s results?