A juicy backstory
wasn't enough to keep David Hernandez on American
Idol. The 24-year-old ex-stripper from Glendale,
Ariz., was dismissed Wednesday, leaving 11 aspiring singers
to vie for the Idol title and a record
contract.
''Honestly,
things happen for a reason,'' Hernandez said before leaving
the stage. ''I think we all have a plan.... This isn't it
for me.''
Hernandez, who
sang the Beatles' ''I Saw Her Standing There,'' made
headlines last week after it was revealed to the Associated
Press that he worked as a stripper at a Phoenix club
with a ''mostly male'' clientele.
Kristy Lee Cook,
a 24-year-old from Selma, Ore., and Syesha Mercado, a
21-year-old from Sarasota, Fla., rounded out the
bottom-three vote-getters.
Finalists had the
opportunity to perform classics from the John
Lennon-Paul McCartney songbook this week. The show's
producers recently got permission to use songs
belonging to Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a company
formed by Sony and Michael Jackson.
The standouts
were Carly Smithson (''Come Together''), Brooke White
(''Let It Be''), David Cook (''Eleanor Rigby'') and Chikezie
(''She's A Woman'').
David Archuleta,
whose cover of Lennon's ''Imagine'' drew heaps of praise
two weeks ago, showed that he's merely mortal when he
flubbed the lyrics to ''We Can Work It Out.'' That
didn't fly with Cowell, who called the 17-year-old's
performance ''a mess.''
Wednesday's show
also featured a performance by season-five finalist
Katharine McPhee and musician David Foster on the piano.
(AP)