American Idol is now down to its Top 6 competitors, and while fans across the country been disgruntled in recent weeks over who's advanced and who's been eliminated, the judges apparently have no complaints about who's there. Lionel Richie recently shared they think the voter-based eliminations have been on point. Yes, this was stated after Sunday night's Queen-centric episode, in which Wade Cota survived and Walker Burroughs said farewell.
When asked why the judges' final save wasn't used in the most recent episode, perhaps to rescue the eliminated Alyssa Raghu or Walker Burroughs, Richie explained they all thought audiences made the right call.
It was one of those things where we didn't think that America got it wrong. They're paying attention and the thing about it is right now we want to save that one critical vote for something that we know is the potential killer. So you know, we're gonna hold it.
Lionel Richie says that he, Luke Bryan, and Katy Perry are holding on to their save to use on whichever to-be-eliminated individual they believe can win it all. Obviously, they didn't believe either Walker Burroughs or Alyssa Raghu were at the level required to win American Idol, at least when measured up against the rest of those that remain.
That's not too surprising to hear in the case of Alyssa Raghu, who was already saved once from audience elimination by Katy Perry. Raghu did manage to outlast the other two contestants that were saved by Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie (Uche and Dimitrius), but only by a week. Plus, she didn't have the strongest showing for the episode.
Then there's Walker Burroughs, whom many on social media believe should have advanced to the Top 6. Walker ended up losing the final spot to Wade Cota, not long after Cota gave one of his weakest performances on American Idol to date. The early fan-favorite struggled through Queen's "We Are The Champions," which contrasted strangely with his raspy voice. Additionally, Cota forgot some of the lyrics, which made the whole thing rough to witness. Though you can attempt to witness it below.
American Idol's faithful viewers were shocked when Wade Cota's name was called over Walker Burroughs', and Cota's expression in the moment hinted that he was equally surprised. Of course, the real disbelief didn't quite set in until the judges held their save, and both Burroughs and Alyssa Raghu were sent home from the competition.
Would the judges' final save have been utilized if Walker advanced and Wade was up for elimination? It's hard to say, but it's interesting that Katy Perry specifically mentioned Wade Cota in the interview with E! Online. The pop superstar believes that Cota's biggest moment is yet to come. In her words:
We're still trying to convince him that he is in Top 6 now. Like, you could do this buddy. And once he starts to really believe that, he might show us something spectacular.
American Idol's judges have two more episodes before the finale to use that save, so chances are they'll use it soon. Perhaps they'll pull a Hunger Games-like scenario and save the runner-up by declaring two winners? ABC and/or America probably wouldn't stand for that nonsense, although it might be the fairest thing to do considering many seem pretty convinced this is Alejandro Aranda's season to lose.
American Idol is live on ABC Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Stick with CinemaBlend for updates on the competition, and the latest in television, movie, and pop culture news.
