American Idol boots out Ashton Jones to trim finalist roll

American Idol boots out Ashton Jones

American Idol trimmed down its list of finalists to 12 Thursday with Ashthon Jones of Nashville, Tennessee receiving the fewest votes from viewers and becoming the first finalist to exit the singing competition.

The 24-year old sang "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" by her idol Diana Ross. But the judges were not exactly wowed by her performance and it showed on the viewers' vote Thursday.

College students Haley Reinhart and Karen Rodriquez joined Ashton Jones in the bottom three contestants of American Idol for the initial finals round.

Jones said she should have picked another song by Diana Ross for her last performance. She shed tears after the announcement and was told by judge Jennifer Lopez, "I was rooting for you, baby."

American Idol allows the judges to save a contestant but Lopez and fellow judges Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler chose not to exercise it for Jones.

"Not this time, baby, I'm sorry," Jennifer Lopez said. "And it was unanimous."

The judges were likewise critical of the performances of Rodriquez and Reinhart. Judge Randy Jackson described Rodriguez' "I Could Fall In Love" as sleepy, and told Reinhart to "find your lane" to stand out more. But for now the two are safe but Ashton Jones goes home.

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest announced that contestant Casey Abrams was not able to attend the results night telecast because he was ill. "You'll notice that Casey is missing from the group. He is unfortunately sick and in the hospital right now," the host said. Abrams is considered one of the favorites in the early going of American Idol.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Friday March 11 2011, 5:02 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0