American Idol 2011 Final 3

72 million votes screwed the judges and put Haley and Lauren in the final with Scotty, who was there anyway. James had to stop believing but can now get on with annoying audiences with strange high notes and metal thrashing stuff somewhere else. I had to admire his leaving performance, though, and he sure has that star quality - you could see the judges watching and checking their calendars to see whether they were, in fact, not watching the bit at the end of the Final after all.

Only the confetti was missing. But that's being kept for Lauren. That's who they want to win. Haley had to endure yet another load of put downs but I still say she's the one to beat in terms of confidence and a future star. Scotty can just walk away and he'll have contracts galore and can look forward to country gigs for many years to come although I doubt whether he'll have much success on these shores. My guess is that he may even get third place and we'll get a really interesting evening watching two talented girls hopefully at their best.

Enrique Iglesias sang Baby I Like It  and showed "Baby Lock Them Doors" Scotty what a real performance should look and sound like and reminded us all how even the best contestants have work to do. Jordin Sparks also appeared looking much thinner than she used to be with  her new single and doing what Leona Lewis should be doing in the States.

By way of distraction we watched Lady Gaga perform "You and I" in a bikini and yellow hair. Most people will remember her standing on the stool. The contestants were watching this on a video and it was fascinating to see Lauren really not being sure whether she should be watching or not and Scotty needed to do a bit of extra cross-kissing too. This was the track Haley sang in a previous show and I wonder whether she's not seriously thinking about cashing in the publicity with a re-run in the final. Risky, though, and a full version of House of The Rising Sun would be my choice but it will be a battle between The Good, The Bad but not The Ugly next week.