Nice choice Paula Abdul. After being chosen by PA to advance from the wild card show Leah Labelle gave a painful rendition of "You keep me hanging on" that prompted Simon Cowell to tell her to pack her bags. He was dead on. I rated her a 5.5, equal to Camile Velasco (who performed Son of a preacher man) and better than only Matt Rogers (horrible version of "Hot to handle"). My top performer was Jennifer Hudson at 8.5, who I was shocked to see in the bottom 3 and then barely escaping elimination. I can only blame it on demographics in that she splits votes with several black females. There were also twice as many females meaning the men got more votes from love struck teens.

I was impressed not only by Jennifer Hudson but also Jon Peter Lewis who I gave an 8.0 for his "Drift away". I would love to swap him up a few slots after that showing. Amy Adams wasn't great, but didn't deserve a bottom 3. Everyone else was merely average and I think once Simon got home and watched the tape he realized it. They must sound better live.