I was THIS close to getting it right again, but I only had Stephanie Edwards as being in troube, and not the person being eliminated. If only I followed MY OWN rules, then I would have picked her as the one leaving. I figured that since Sanjaya Malakar was just that bad, he would be immune to the rules of Idol, but he's not, so I have no one to blame for not getting it right except myself.

And no, I do not follow the rules of Dial Idol, where I can claim the lower half of the voting spectrum and still give myself credit. That makes me 10-4 (2-0 in Dial Idol rules) and Dial Idol is 4-10. Ick.

So what are the rules of Idol?

A. If you sing well, you will be safe. This is the first and foremost rule of American Idol. You get bonus points if you are in your own genre.

B. If you sing badly, you will be...safe? That's correct, and that's what I messed up on. I knew Phil Stacey would be safe, because his fan base knew he was in trouble because he was in the bottom three last week. What I thought was that Sanjaya's base voted full force on him on Week #1, and that he wouldn't be getting his full base of voters. Wrong. Sanjaya's group knew he was in trouble, and they voted very hard to keep him in there.

C. If you sing mediocre, you're in deep, deep trouble. This is called the Chaos Theory (TM) because that's when people that you don't expect to be leaving get their walking papers, throwing the competition into chaos and getting people to yell that the competition is fixed. But it really isn't, because now you know why you get weird results.

Stephanie Edwards and Chris Richardson are perfect examples of this. Stephanie left because 1. There isn't enough voting public to hold on to 4 R and B singers and 2. She was the weakest of the 4. That's not to say that she isn't good - Stephanie is an excellent singer. The problem is that for some inexplicable reason, she didn't go into Rock or Pop (which is only occupied by 1 singer each) and insisted in singing against the powerhouses. That was a horrible strategy and it came to cost her a spot on the Top Ten Idol Tour.

So why did Chris Richardson drop into the bottom two? He certainly didn't belong there, if you're looking at this from a musical perspective, BUT he certainly did belong there if you are looking at it from a Rules of Idol perspective. He falls into the baby faced pop category. Who else is there? Blake Lewis and...Sanjaya Malakar. Blake Lewis gave an excellent performance, and his fan base voted hard. Sanjaya's fan base voted very hard too - because they knew from last week that he almost left. That leaves Chris, who's performance wasn't good enough to inspire his fans to call, but it wasn't bad enough to signal his fans that he was in any danger. That is why he wound up in the bottom two.

And a note to Idol Producers - if you want to equate Sanjaya as to making kids cry (which was a HORRIBLE move that royally backfired), then at least select a kid that actually cried because of Sanjaya, and not just because she was crying on EVERY performance (which she was, if you watched the show).

I have now been getting e-mail thanks to this column (thank you, all) and one of said e-mails was from Jason Plump, in scenic Moonachie, New Jersey. Jason is in an American Idol office pool, which has people randomly draws names, and wants to know this week what choices are safe and who he should be bartering to trade.

So we'll look at it - and also answer the question of why we only get a Final Two last night as well.

BUY / HOLD

Lakisha/Melinda/Jordin - Here is AI 6's Version of the 3 Divas. In Idol 3, their version of the divas (Fantasia Barino/LaToya London/Jennifer Hudson) held firm until the Final 7 and in Idol 2, there were three R and B singers (Reuben Studard, Kimberly Locke and Trenyce) until the FInal 5. I think that the R and B voting audience can hold three singers together for at least the next month - assuming that they all continue to sing well, of course.

Blake/Haley - Blake has FINALLY arranged a song well and sang it even better. The whole idea of good arrangement is to spice the song, but keep the essence of it and Blake finally figured it out. Haley is the Idol Hottie, and if she keeps up those performances, she will make the FInal 4, along with Blake.

Oh, one more thing. As I have said before on this column, frontrunners NEVER win Idol. The odds on favorites to win this after week one? Lakisha. I don't think she will win it. You heard it here first.

Chris Richardson - Wait a sec. Chris finished in the Bottom Two. Why is he here? Because of all of the booing that occurred when his name was called last night. His fans KNOW that he is in trouble and will MAKE SURE that he doesn't fall down there again - and next week, he won't.

A message to Chris Richardson fans, and you know who I'm talking about - you guys split your vote, didn't you? You voted maybe 5 times for Chris and then 3 for Sanjaya, didn't you? Yes you did. Fess up. That's what you get for splitting your vote and trying to keep Sanjaya in - your own favorite at the bottom. Shame on you.

TRADE UPWARDS

Chris Sligh - You are where Phil Stacey was a few weeks ago. You are on the cusp of joining the elite with one more great effort. HOWEVER, you are one mediocre song away from dropping into the Bottom Three - or leaving. Why? Since the voting upswing will now go back to the guys, This week is CRUCIAL for your existence in the show, and you have yet to give a jaw-dropping effort to get people to your camp or an awful performance to signal people that you are in danger. You can not afford a just ok effort. If you get him and have an opportunity to trade for Chris Richardson, do it.

SELL, SELL, SELL

GIna Glocksen - Remember what I told to Chris? The same thing applies to you. You took a definite step backwards last week, and you can't afford to keep doing that. So why are you in greater trouble than Chris? Because you are in the ever fickle Rock Genre, where the fans will turn on you quicker than in other genres. Bo Bice, who came in second, spent some time in the bottom two and Daughtry got knocked out in the Final Four. Why? Because the rock crowd is not as devoted as other audiences. If you can swap out for Chris Richardson here, do it as well.

Phil Stacey / Sanjaya Malakar - So they weren't in the bottom two this week - why worry? Worry because with Stephanie leaving, her votes are going straight to Lakisha, Stephanie and Jordin, and not to you. But here's the biggest reason to worry - you avoided the bottom because the extra votes you got came courtesy of Chris Richardson. That didn't knock Chris out though, and his fans will be voting feverishly to keep him in, which means that his votes will probably be coming from both of you.

What makes it worse for Sanjaya is that I'm guessing that he came in third and the producers probably didn't want the audience to know it so that the troops won't be mobilized to vote for him next week. Here's another Idol statistic which will probably doom either of them - only once has someone been in the bottom three consecutively twice and did not leave on week three. That person - Eliott Yamin, who came in third last season. Neither Phil nor Sanjaya are strong enough to do that, so I believe that they will be singing for their lives next week, with the person who did finish in third to last in serious jeopardy.

Thanks for the e-mail Jason. I hope it helps. If you want to e-mail me, my address is gordon@gameshownewsnet.com.

That's all I got this week. See you next week!

G.