See, that’s the problem. Everyone is taking for granted that Ruben is going to get votes, so they’re voting for their favorite underdog.
Well, she wasn’t getting to the finals, so see ya, Trenyce. Bighead Josh better get the boot next week.
I think this would work better if people could only vote once.
Thank goodness he’s safe, but still Trenyce should not have been the one to go this week either. I think Josh knew it, too.
Honestly, I haven’t voted for Ruben even though I think he’s good and should be at least one of the last two, but I usually don’t have the time to throw any votes his way. It’s usually hard enough to get through that I can only get about 10 votes in per person, and I can usually only manage 20 per night. Clay is my favorite and I usually only vote for him and the person whom I feel might need the extra help, like Kim L., but only if I think they are talented enough. I have never voted for Josh or Carmen.
So I guess next week I try and vote for everyone but Josh. I just hope this shocker gets those sympathy voter’s heads out of their butts so they start voting for talent.
I’m telling you, people had better rise up and vote for Kimberly Cole, Clay Aiken, and most especially Ruben Studdard so they are the final three next week.
If Josh beats any of them, the American public proves once again that they are gigantic morons.
Sorry, I’m really into this. 
I am so unbelievably angry, I could outshine the sun!
RUBEN!?!??!?! In the BOTTTOM 2?
Trenyce eliminated NOW!>?!?! BEFORE JOSH!!???!?!?!
Josh SAFE???
No, this is sick!
I’d accept Trenyce’s elimination if, and only if, JOSH WENT FIRST!
Oh, there will be a HUGE backlash against Josh! Since Ruben is no longer safe, I’m transferring all my Paybee votes to him while throwing some to K.LO.
I’m just disgusted.
Okay, so you’re going to follow your own advice, right?
What is everyone so surprised about?
Yeah, Josh doesn’t have the voice that the others do, but I bet he’s got a lot of teenage girls waiting to vote for him every week.
OK. I’m over tonight’s show. I can think clearly now. Really.
And here’s what I think: Josh scraped through on Sympathy Votes. Simon was mean to him. . . really mean. Therefore, the Little Girls got out their Little Phones and called in for him to show Mean Simon what for! What other explanation could there be?
I’m not upset Trenyce is gone. I have never liked Trenyce. She went gracefully, if a week early.
As for Ruben, I think Seacrest nailed it when he reminded people they had to call in and vote for their favorites. It’s possible that so many people are convinced Ruben is a lock, they just don’t call for him.
Jurhael said there will be a huge backlash against Josh. I don’t think so. Remember, you don’t vote for the person you want gone. You vote for the person(s) you want to want to stay. So how can you backlash using this method?
This week kind of reminded me of last year when the apparent favorite Tamyra Gray got axed. I say “kind of” because Ruben stayed safe. But there was a Tamyra Gray kind of gasp that went through the audience when Ruben’s name was announced for the Bottom Two.
All in all, the last quarter-hour of the show was good. The rest was nothing but cross-promotion. . . but I did like the 60s Medley. Good to see Justin, but his song sucked.
I knew someone would misread that.
I said:
I, of course, meant that I throw a few votes the way of the person who does not deserve to be eliminated yet, but may not be as popular as some of the others and I only started voted for Kim L. recently when Kim was improving but Carmen and Josh kept staying. I am not voting for Kim out of sympathy but because I think she is talented enough to be in the top 3.
Which I think explains/justifies what I said about voting for talent, the other quote of mine that you made a point to bold:
I will vote for Ruben next week (after Clay and Kim) to help counteract the Josh sympathy voters, but as long as Josh is gone next week I will probably stop voting for Ruben and just vote exclusively for Clay after that.
Never have I seen a better American Idol suggestion than that of brujo. We only get one vote for president, vice president, public officers, etc. Why should American Idol be any different? (I am fully aware that voting for the winner of a talent show is a completely different animal than voting for our country’s leaders, but the same principle applies). The teenyboppers and general idiots who vote a staggering amount for their favorite are skewing the results and, inevitably, making it unfair and inaccurate. Perhaps if they blocked phone numbers from voting more than once for any given contestant, it would be better.
I don’t have time to dig up specific quotes, but I’ve heard numerous people right here on the board say that they didn’t feel Ruben needed their vote(s), so they didn’t cast any, or cast only one.
**
You’d think that by now, everyone would understand that. But do you suppose that, even this late in the game, there are still people who think this is Survivor?
Fox’ll never do that because then they wouldn’t have those hyper-inflated vote counts-- ‘16 million of you voted last night!’-- to brag aboout.
And Justin, I thought, sounded like crap.
Happy
I was unable to catch the last part of tonight’s show. So if anyone could, could you please tell me the reactions of the other contestants and the judges to the news of Ruben being in the bottom 2?
Thank you!
Jenny*
The judges were beside themselves!
The only other contestant we saw in closeup was Josh, who sat slumped over with his head in his hands.
I think Josh knows he should be going home. I think he began to realize this a couple of weeks ago. His performances have become like Carmen and Julia Demato’s did. He’s performing almost like he would like to be released from his misery. I cannot understand how Ruben could be in 4th place this week. The only hope in this situation is that Josh was only just above him, and not any further ahead.
I voted for Ruben and Kimberly Locke last night. I did find it strange that I got through each time I voted for Ruben. I just figured it was since I was voting 10 minutes before the lines shut down. Now I see it’s because many people just gave up because they felt he was “safe”.
Hope America wakes up this time!
Jenny*
Maybe this is actually good for Ruben. People may realize that he could slip away just because of the strategy votes. He won’t be in the bottom two next week. Betcha!
Isn’t this kind of a classic voting systems problem? People expect the results to follow the general preferential order, but it’s inherently not a preferential voting system. Even holding each person to one vote wouldn’t solve this.
As a comparison: in 1992, most of the country might have thought Perot was the second best choice for president, but he still came in third.
My mother voted for Josh.
My mother who I wasn’t even sure watched T.V.
She thinks Josh is a good family man who takes criticism hard.
Pity vote. : p
She doesn’t like Clay’s hair.
I would only foresee this being a problem if Fox decided to institute an Electoral College.