We'll get to who I think is going at the end of the column (though most of you probably know what I think). This week is the 'Wheel of Death' round, where each of the contestants must sing 3 songs - one chosen by the producers, one chosen by the judges, and one chosen by the contestants themselves.

Round 1: Judge's Choice

David Archuleta gets 'And So It Goes' by...Billy Joel. It's a very pretty song, and should go into his wheelhouse.

The Good - David sang the song very, very well. He nailed the notes and made a song out of it.

The Bad - Keep your eyes open! It looks more like he's walking off the plank of a ship than singing a song. And what up with that strange reverb on the microphone? Booo, vocal technician.

The Verdict - The judges called it 'predictable', which I can understand. He didn't do anything different with the song, or deviate from his standard Archuleta-styled' performance. I don't think that in this stage, he has to. This is David Archuleta, and his fans will eat that stuff up.

Syesha Mercado gets the second song from Randy Jackson. Alicia Keys sends 'If I Got You' Syesha's way.

The Good - Syesha is peaking at the right time. Easily one of her better vocal performances to date, with her singing the notes out instead of trying to belt them. And she finally has a wardrobe consultant that seems to know what he's doing.

The Bad - We need someone with a machete to come into the crowd and mow down the idiotic audience that insist on coming in and waving their hands around, which blocks us from watching the performance. Is Jason Vorhees available for the Idol finale?

The Verdict - She is peaking at the right time. Great first round song and performance. If she can pull off 2 more of these, then she may have a shot to be in the finals.

David Cook gets Simon - and gets 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' by Roberta Flack. Simon decided that he wanted to challenge David Cook. Well, this will be a challenge...

The Good - ...but he should be able to handle it with a change of style. He rocks it up, which is a great way to play the song.

The Bad - Randy Jackson makes a completely awful comment about wanting him to rock the song out, which is clearly more of an attack on Simon than David. What Randy should have said was 'you hit the money notes, Dawg, but the first half of the song was pitchy and borderline messy', then I would have agreed with Randy.

The Verdict - I'm going to agree with...Randy. If you're looking at it from a complete song standpoint, David's performance was the weakest of the three. But no one remembers the first part of the song - they all remember the money notes, which is what David was the best of the three at.

Round 1 Winner: Syesha Mercado

Round 2: Contestant's Choice

David Archuleta decides to sing...With You, by Chris Brown? Whoa.

The Good - An amazing risk to take on a song like that. If he nails it, then he puts himself in prime position to win a lot of votes.

The Bad - The risk only works if you remember the lyrics (which he didn't), or make the song define him (which he didn't) or make it believable (which he didn't). A white Utah'an singing 'My Boo'? Enough said.

The Verdict - Guts: 10. Degree of Difficulty: 10. Actual Performance: 4.

Syesha Mercado decides to go old and dusty and sing 'Fever' - with a chair and a bass player. Will we get the fever to vote for her?

The Good - She vocally sang the part very well. She goes back to the theatrical world, and I will disagree with Paula. I think the song shows exactly what sort of performer she is...

The Bad - ...and it shows us that she is a broadway actress, and not a pop singer. I will completely agree with Simon that her fondling both the bass player and the chair is not how you win a pop competition. The chair, however, was looking quite sexy.

The Verdict - This is not Broadway Idol. If she does not make it to the finals (and most people say she won't), she can look at this song as the reason why.

David Cook decides to use the experience for the song 'Dare You To Move' by 'Switchfoot'.

The Good - Hey - he listened to the judges. We get a rocker rocking out on a decent song that he has a chance to do well in - especially since the first two singers in this round were underwhelming.

The Bad - And as we regress to week #1 of Idol, we see what got David Cook into trouble. An obscure song that he sings with no vocal tone and tambre. Pitchy all over the place. He doesn't even hit the money notes that well. If he did this in the earlier rounds, you'd see him in the bottom three, pronto.

The Verdict - And now we see the real reason why people besides the contestants select the songs this round - because the contestants are not competent enough to do it for themselves.

Round 2 Winner: No One

Round 3: Producer's Choice

David Archuleta gets Dan Fogelberg's 'Longer'.

The Good - Ballad. Slow song. David. Nails It. Again. Nothing more to be said.

The Bad - So the biggest complaint on David is that he sings schmaltzy ballads. So what do the producers give him? A schmaltzy ballad. Good job, producers. And the tucked out shirt makes him look like he's singing the song at 3am after an office Karaoke party when half of the people remaining are blitzed out of their skulls.

The Verdict - David sang the song as well as he could. The producers, for giving him that song, need to be branded with a red hot cattle iron.

Syesha Mercado gets the song 'Hit Me Up' from the song 'Happy Feet' from the producers. Thanks producers. No really, thanks.

The Good - We have another nice wardrobe selection. She tries to make the song work, and she tries to emote to the camera well.

The Bad - I can understand that the producers want to make her more hip and contemporary, but instead, they gave her a song which stretched out her vocal chords and made her pitchy all over the place. What made it worse was she sang the song with the emotional charge of not a tap dancing penguin, but of Eeyore the donkey if Eeyore just had knee surgery and was stuck in a wheelchair for 2 months.

The Verdict - The producers also need to be cattle ironed here - but the difference is that Syesha Mercado didn't sing the song as well as she could have. Any lead she had from the first song she's given back in the second and third songs.

David Cook ends the evening with 'I Don't Want To Miss a Thing' from the Aerosmith Collection.

The Good - Rock Song. Popular. David. Nails it. Again. Nothing more to be said.

The Bad - I actually have to agree with Randy on this one. The performance was just 'ok'. This was a song BEGGING to be altered and Eleanor Rigby'd up and done differently - and David didn't do it. He had the other singers on the ropes and let them off the hook. That could be a moment that he could regret - maybe not this week, but next week in the finals, where he had a chance to really imprint himself.

The Verdict - Hmmm...Archuleta - Schmaltzy love song. Mercado - Fluffy pop song about Penguins. Cook - Rock song in his wheelhouse. We obviously see who the producers want to see win this thing. Then again, if you have a contestant with a stage dad who cost the company money with an unlicensed song and had to be banned from rehearsals this week, you can understand why they don't want that sort of influence around a contract they are offering a contestant. Regardless, Mr. Cook gets a song right into his Wheelhouse and does very well with it.

Round 3 Winner: David Cook

Overall Verdict - This was a little underwhelming. We still have some good performances, but nothing out of the park. As for being safe...well it's the final 3, no one is safe. But as for who is leaving, it seems pretty evident...

Out - Syesha Mercado

HOWEVER

As you all know, well before the Round of 24 started, I called a Syesha Mercado / David Archuleta final. Last year, I called a Jordin Sparks / Blake Lewis finals - and then changed my mind in the last week - only to see Melinda Doolittle get knocked off. I am not making that same mistake this year - I'll make a different one instead. And in order for there to be a Syesha Mercado / David Archuleta final, that means Mr. Cook must come in third. Who will probably be Out - Syesha Mercado

Who I am calling Out because I am a stubborn jackass - David Cook

Join us in 24 hours for the results.