I was first of all shocked to see Brooke safe and Syesha Mercado in the bottom two when they were alone on stage. Then comes the even bigger shock when Jason was safe and Carly sent to the bottom two stools. Ridiculous voting outcomes. The only good thing was that we were spared from having to hear Jason screech out "Memory" again.

Simon Cowell's usual influence was not a factor this week, obviously. I gotta say, his arrogance irritates me. When Syesha was singing her heart out on her encore of "One Rock and Roll Too Many" near the judges, Paula Abdul stood and sent out love and support, Randy Jackson reached out his hand. Simon kept his back to the girl, not in the moment at all.

For some reason, Ryan Seacrest decided to kiss Simon on the head at the start of the show and Simon had a moment of gay panic. Ryan then reassured him: "Relax, it didn't mean anything."

But Simon redeemed himself a bit in the final moments of the show when he said to the departing Carly:"I apologize for giving you a compliment (Tuesday night), Kiss of death. You can leave here tonight with your head held high."

She sure can.