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BBC MUNDO RADIO
By Len Melisurgo/ The Star-Ledger
April 01, 2010, 8:02AM
Well, it looks as if Tim Urban's new nickname, '"Teflon Tim" is starting to stick.
The 20-year-old Texas college student with the Disney-friendly face survived yet another elimination night on "American Idol" and slid his way into the Top 9, while Didi Benami, the pretty waitress with the sultry voice and persistent stage fright, was voted out.
That was the end result of last night's drawn-out elimination show on Fox, which featured the following:
• Lots of promos for the upcoming "Clash of the Titans" movie (completely unrelated to "American Idol").
• A decent performance by "Big Mike" Lynche former Idol winner Ruben Studdard, who sounds just like "Big Mike" Lynche and looks like he lost half of the weight he had on when he first took the Idol stage seven years ago. By the way, Ruben, who actually towers over Mike, was there to promote his new R&B single, "Don't Make 'Em Like U No More," and to promote his upcoming tour with Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken.
• A decent performance by R&B superstar Usher, who just finished a successful stint as an Idol mentor and promoted "OMG," a single from his just-released album, which he was there to promote.
• An energetic performance by hip-hop star Diddy (formerly known as P. Diddy, formerly known as Puff Daddy, formerly known as Sean Combs) and his new group, Dirty Money, who sang "Hello, Good Morning," the third single from Diddy's upcoming album, which he was there to promote.
• A glimpse of Ryan Seacrest's son young pop star Justin Bieber sitting in the audience, because he and Usher are buddies and the teen idol wants the world to know his album has hit the top of the charts. Oh man, another unintentional product promotion...
• Another corny Ford music video, featuring the Top 10 finalists of Season 9 acting and strutting around to that old 70s hit, "Kung Fu Fighting." (to promote Ford cars)
• A glimpse of Big Mike's wacky pink hair extension (which he said was done in honor of fellow Idol finalist Siobhan Magnus -- not to promote any products).
• A second look at Andrew Garcia's mom in the audience. And now we know for sure she loves clothes with patterns. (On Tuesday night, Mrs. Garcia was wearing a zebra-striped vest; last night she was wearing a blouse that resembled a giant checker board.)
• More tension between Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest. (Hard to tell if it's staged or authentic.)
• A welcome surprise: We did NOT -- I repeat, NOT -- have to endure another cheesy, lip-synched, badly choreographed group song by the Top 10 finalists. There was none last night. (I guess my prayers to God -- channeled through former Idol semi-finalist Jermaine Sellers -- were finally answered...)
'TEFLON TIM' EXPLAINS HIS SMILE
Another interesting moment last night came when Zac Efron Tim Urban was asked why he smiles so much on stage, even after getting bashed by the judges.
Young Tim gave a somewhat convoluted answer, but I kind of understood what he was trying to say: He savors every moment he's performing, because he knows it could be his last one, and he realizes it's an honor to sing before millions of television viewers on the nation's highest-rated show. (sniff, sniff, get me a tissue...)
"Every time I step up out onto that stage, I know like it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Tim told the Idol judges before the rest of his words were drowned out by loud applause from the audience.
(In case you're wondering... A newspaper recently gave Urban the nickname "Teflon Tim" because he has repeatedly managed to survive elimination despite his long string of unimpressive performances -- just like the late mob boss John Gotti Jr. was dubbed the "Teflon Don" because he was a struggling singer who always smiled. OK, just kidding. Gotti's nickname refers to his ability to avoid convictions at most of his trials. Seems like the charges would never stick, just like eggs don't stick to Teflon pans...)
The bottom three singers, based on the voting from Tuesday night, turned out to be Didi Benami, Tim Urban and Katie Stevens. Katie was sent back to join the other survivors, leaving Didi and Tim to learn their fates at the very end of the one-hour-plus show.
Tim was told he earned enough votes to join the Top 9, and Didi learned she was the lowest vote-getter. Unlike last week's lowest vote-getter, Paige Miles, Didi was given an opportunity to sing one final song in hopes of earning the "judge's save."
The save (a stupid rule) can be used by the judges only once per season, and only up until the Final 5. And the decision has to be unanimous.
Last night, after Didi performed a somewhat shaky encore of "Rhiannon," the Fleetwood Mac song that earned her very high praise several weeks ago, Simon Cowell delivered the grim verdict.
"Didi, it's bad news, sweetheart -- we're not gonna save you. Sorry," Simon told her. "But I'm gonna tell you, it was a million times better than what you did last night."
Simon was referring to Didi's surprisingly dull and flat performance of "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted" during Tuesday night's live two-hour-plus show.
Two other singers Tuesday performed just as badly as Didi -- Siobhan Magnus and Tim Urban.
But Siobhan didn't even end up in the bottom three (voters cut her a break because she simply had one off-night), and Tim ended up in the bottom three for the third straight week and the bottom two for the second straight week.
And he survived again... because he's "Teflon Tim." (and, as we've mentioned many times before, lots of American teenagers seem to admire his floppy hair, his Disney-friendly smile and his well-toned muscles, so they keep on voting for him)
YOUR PREDICTIONS
The bottom three you predicted in our poll: Tim Urban, Didi Benami and Siobhan Magnus.In our reader poll yesterday, after the Top 10 singers performed, you guys came pretty close to picking the correct bottom three.
• Your bottom three were Tim Urban, Didi Benami and Siobhan Magnus. (same as mine)
• The actual bottom three turned out to be Didi Benami, Tim Urban and Katie Stevens.
Here are the complete stats from our March 31 Idol poll, with 571 votes cast:
• Tim Urban -- 54 percent (307 votes) felt he deserved to go home this week.
• Didi Benami -- 29 percent (167 votes) felt she deserved to go home this week.
• Siobhan Magnus -- 5 percent (30 votes)
• Katie Stevens -- 3 percent (17 votes)
• Andrew Garcia -- 3 percent (17 votes)
• Crystal Bowersox -- 1 percent (8 votes)
• Mike Lynche -- 1 percent (7 votes)
• Casey James -- 1 percent (6 votes)
• Lee Dewyze -- 1 percent (6 votes)
• Aaron Kelly -- 1 percent (6 votes)
Let's give it another shot after next week's show.
