Michael Johns reflects on his "American Idol" experience...

Michael Johns expected to be preparing for next week's "American Idol" on Friday. Instead, the singer was doing a round of interviews talking about his shocking ouster from the show.

He really did look stunned on Thursday night's telecast and I wanted to know if he had been taken completely by surprise.

"Of course I'd being lying to say I wasn't shocked," he said. "I hadn't been in the bottom three and thought the last 2-3 weeks had been my strongest. We're in this competition and stuff can happen and it did."

Michael, a 29-year-old from Australia, will have to settle for coming in eighth in the high-profile talent competition. While judge Simon Cowell had not been crazy about his decision to sing "Dream On" this week, he has no regrets.

"I'm living my dream and that song is all about heartache and overcoming struggle and I've done that in the last 10 years," he said. "That's why I chose that song."

It was 10 years ago that Michael came to live in the U.S. where he landed a record deal but never saw his album released. So "Idol" has been a second chance at stardom.

For a minute there, Michael thought he might be getting a second chance on the show when host Ryan Seacrest mentioned that it was the week of the show's "Idol Gives Back" charity event and noted that last year, no one was eliminated that week.

Then he told Michael that he was indeed going home.

"I get the television aspect of this competition but yeah, it was tough," Michael admitted. "I thought, 'I'm going home.' Then I thought, 'I'm not going home.' Then reality set in. Ryan gave me a look like 'I'm so sorry I had to do this.'"

Despite being eliminated, Michael had some high-profile fans including fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban who relayed a message to him this week. Dolly Parton had an on-air phone call with Michael Friday and said she'd like to write a song for him and possibly do a duet.

The judges were also supportive after the show including the often-harsh Simon.

"Sometimes Simon is off the mark to be honest, sometimes he's on and I respect his opinion a lot," Michael said. "I wasn't necessarily going to pander to what the judges said every week...Some weeks they loved it and some weeks they didn't."

"Simon is very influential, they all are," he added. "To me, it was more important showing America what kind of record I was going to make. ... That was more important to me than getting the three thumbs up."

As is tradition, Michael sang an encore of the song that got him eliminated on this week's results show. But there was a twist: he sang it brilliantly and waded through the audience before ending up at the judges stand.

I wanted to know what he was thinking about during the performance which really was one of his best.
"I wasn't thinking, I was feeling." he said. "I think that came across."

So what's next after the "Idol" concert tour this summer featuring the top 10?

"Hopefully I'll make a great record and this won't be the last that you see me," he said. "I just can't wait to get out there and rock!"