Michael Johns Gets The Ax In The Name Of <s>Boosting Ratings</s> Charity

“Idol Gives Back” week wouldn’t be a televised charity extravaganza without a moment of extreme awkwardness, and last night’s elimination of sole-rep-of-the-’70s Michael Johns certainly fit that bill. It was surprising (lots of early-results polls, including one by TiVo, had Syesha Mercado going home; last night was Michael’s first trip to the bottom three) and it was punctuated by one of the crueler moments I’ve seen on non-romantic-competition television lately: Ryan Seacrest telling Michael that he was at the bottom of the show’s bottom three, noting that no one went home during last year’s “Idol Gives Back” episodes, and then… telling Michael to pack his knives and go. He was auf’d! This was met with lots of surprise and consternation and calls of conspiracy theories, although no one’s floated my “America just can’t get down with dudes who routinely wear ascots” theory yet. So all I’m gonna say is that surely I’m not the only person who’s noticed the boy-girl-boy-girl-boy order of eliminations so far? Maybe Ryan wasn’t too sad because he knew Michael would be coming back during that rumored wild card episode? Hmm, Fox. Hmmm, Nigel Lythgoe. Hmmmmm!