VIDEO: American Idol Top 12 Selected! Lily Scott, Todrick Hall, Alex Lambert And Katelyn Epperly Voted Off
March 12 2010, Published 10:43 a.m. ET
American Idol now has its Top 12 after four singers were eliminated Thursday night, and RadarOnline.com has the clip of the most emotional moment in the show -- when one of the four broke down in tears after hearing the news he was going home.
Katelyn Epperly, and favorites Alex Lambert, Lilly Scott, Todrick Hall were voted off. Even Lily said "it's surprising a lot of incredible talent is going home tonight."
VIDEO: American Idol's Michael Lynche Brings Kara DioGuardi To Tears
It all started when all 16 hopefuls opened the show by harmonizing Michael Buble's hit Haven't Met You Yet. First up, LA's Didi Benami. Randy Jackson told her "consistency is key." Ryan told her she was safe. Next, it was Siobhan Magnus from Denver. Ellen DeGeneres said "You can see you're having fun. Just keep doing what you're doing." And she's going to get that chance, because she made it into the Top 12.
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Paige Miles and Katelyn were called on stage together. Host Ryan Seacrest said one of them is going home. When Katelyn found out she was the first to go, she was gracious in her response "it's just a push actually for me to do more stuff,"
On Wednesday night, Randy said Tim Urban's performance that night was his personal best. And when he found out he made the Top 12, he almost fainted. Casey James, who stripped for Kara DioGuardi during his audition, was quickly told he made the cut.
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Lee Dewyze and Todrick Hall were the final two guys standing on stage. Simon had said Lee has best voice of all the guys. America agreed and he made it to the Top !2.
When Todrick found out he was going home, he said "This was an awesome experience, i came here to prove, I'm not just a dancer, I can sing too."
As part of American Idol's halftime show, they brought out two Idols from last season: Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre. Playing dueling pianos, they sang Billy Joel's Tell Her About It. Scott has a new album out. And the blind singer said, "it was good to see you too Ryan."
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Crystal Bowersox, who Simon picked as the top contender, came out on stage looking defeated. She quickly found out she had no reason to. Then it was Michael Lynche's turn. Kara explained why she was brought to tears on Wednesday night saying 'when someone sings something that they've gone through or going through, they sing it in a different way." There were huge cheers-- even from Kara-- when he made it into the Top 12.
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It's Lacey Brown's second time at Idol, and she's coming back next week. 16-year-old Aaron Kelly, the youngest in the group, stunned the audience by making the Top 12.
Then the most emotional part of the show: the announcement that Alex Lambert was voted off. Crying, he said, " I wish I would have not been so nervous. I wish I just could have broken out of my shell." Finalist Siobhan Magnus was crying uncontrollably. Ellen gave Alex some advice: "Don't ever stop believing in yourself."
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The last two were Katie Stevens and Lily Scott. At one point Kara predicted Katie could be a winner, but she also said Lily actually "knows herself very well." Ryan announced: "The final seat in our top 12 belongs to Katie."
Lily was stunned. And, Kara shook her head. Before singing her final song, she said " I thought i did very well. I put my heart into every performance. It's surprising a lot of incredible talent is going home tonight. I don't know what America wants to hear. I just know there's an audience for me."
Thursday night it was also announced that American Idol's first theme show will feature songs from The Rolling Stones