American Idol shocker!

The show started innocently enough with a rock medley by the Idols.

Stefano, Casey & Lauren were called up first. As I predicted, Stefano was in the bottom 3.

Idol alum Constantine performed "Unchained melody".

Paul, Pia & Scotty were called up next. Scotty was told he was safe. Paul looked resigned to the bottom 3 next to Pia but he was told he was safe! Pia? Pia in the bottom 3? What the hell? Ok, calm down I said to myself. No disrespect to Stefano but he was still there so all was good. Pia would just get a scare.

Then they showed us a TMZ media training segment. Ok.

James, Haley and Jacob up last. James safe. Haley looked resigned to being in the bottom 3 like Paul but just like Paul it was front-runner Jacob who was in the bottom 3! Jacob in the bottom 3? Talent-wise I don't see it but I can see it for him telling America that if they didn't like his performance, they need to look in the mirror. That wasn't a wise decision to say that on a show where you are looking for votes. Looks like he turned a lot of people off with that, he'll have to get himself back in people's good graces and stay away from arrogant comments like that.

Iggy Pop performed. Whose idea was that? Iggy Pop is not PG friendly and they wound up not being able to do close-ups on him, cutting away and censoring him. Iggy was just doing his thing but I don't think that's appropriate for this show. Just stupid. Makes AI look desperate for water cooler moments. More on that in a bit.

Results in. Jacob was told he was safe. Lesson learned I hope. Pia and Stefano, Pia out! The judges and audience were stunned & angry. I, like the audience and judges, was stunned. America got it wrong. BIGTIME. Pia is hands down the most polished and talented singer on the show. She will be the biggest star to emerge from this season and although she's out, she'll be just fine. She has a HUGE career ahead. I absolutely detested that the AI producers played up her dedicating things to her grandfather in her video package, all the while getting as good a close-up on her as they could in the hopes they would get her crying. To her credit, Pia did not give them that satisfaction. She kept it together till the show was over and had Jacob to bawl into. :(

Why was she out? I've heard lots of theories today, lots with some truth to them - girls don't vote for girls, they vote for the cutest guys; that the judges didn't push her to own the stage more; that voters felt she was going to be fine either way and voted for others more in danger; that since texting came into the vogue as a way to vote and became cheaper to do, girls have had problems on AI as girls vote for the guys; here's something that I don't see being mentioned though - what if it was done for ratings? The Casey watercooler moment was huge and spoken about all the way up to the next show. For TV, that's big especially with X Factor around the corner. Could the producers have played us all with the Casey moment? To show that this season's show is very unpredictable. In all my years watching AI since the beginning, America has never been this unpredictable or inconsistent with the contestants. When the Casey show began, Ryan advised us to stay tuned to the very end and that it would be a shocking vote. The producers knew the judges would use the save. They also know what a front-runner being voted out would do for the show's ratings as being unpredictable. As is the camera on Pia's face to catch some tears. All for ratings. This is a TV show after all. However, it can also be said that to get rid of a front-runner can be dangerous to ratings as people can get turned off to even watching. Right now, I think it's a very perilous time for AI. They had so much goodwill going with this cast of contestants and the new judges. All that can be gone right now as people seem truly disturbed that someone with Pia's talent could be ousted. This upset goes down in AI's history with the likes of Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson. Just like those 2, I predict she will far outshine whoever wins the show this season. Team Pia!