Canadian Idol: Four More Go Down For The Count

On Monday and Tuesday nights combined, almost four million viewers tuned in to Canadian Idol. While many of these hosers rapidly switched the channel, complaining, "There shouldn't be no singing on Corner Gas," 2.5 million of them picked up their phones in an attempt to make four of the 18 remaining Idol competitors break down in tears.

By Wednesday night, the votes were in and host Ben Mulroney announced the eight least popular singers: Rob James, Sheldon Elter, Chris Labelle, Greg Neufeld, Alisha Nauth, Ashley Coulter, Ashley Coles and Alyssa Klazek.

James and Elter weren't huge surprises. Both had wound up in the bottom four the previous week and James, in particular, had delivered a pretty disappointing rendition of Bryan Adams' "Heaven" on Monday night.

Neufeld wasn't a giant shocker either. It's not hard to see how his Generican Eagle looks and husky, understated performances might slip below Canada's radar.

But the ever-entertaining Labelle, on the other hand, was a straight-up, stripper-jumping-out-of-granny's-birthday-cake-sized surprise. OK, Labelle's not a great singer, but he has a mohawk and dances funny. Don't charming gimmicks mean anything anymore? Whatever happened to the days of Totally Krossed Out, not to mention all that leaning with it and rocking with it that the kids were doing a few months back? Did all that go the way of the pterodactyl and the Ryan Malcolm? Soon we would find out Labelle's fate and, with it, the answer to those questions.

But first: the ladies. Like last week, Klazek definitely belonged in the bottom four. Hopefully, this time around, she'd finally be eliminated. If not, somebody would probably have to go Tonya Harding on her ass.

As for Cole, it wasn't really a huge stretch to see her at the uncool table either. While she's established herself as a gifted singer, she hasn't really carved out a memorable public personality.

But Coulter certainly has. After her Tuesday night rendition of Melissa Etheridge's "I'm The Only One," judge Zack Werner warned the performer that she had typecast herself as a blues-rock bar singer. Apparently, despite Coulter's strong voice, Canada doesn't feel too pressed to land a blues rocker on the radio. It was a shame to see Coulter in the bottom four, as it was to see Nauth.

Sure, Nauth's tendency to cover the kind of '80s MOR tunes that Lloyd Dobler would use to get laid is kind of questionable, but there's no denying that she's got a voice bigger than Mariah Carey's breasts. Of course, as Glitter proved, even Carey's breasts have faced failure before.

So, with Carey's breasts on all of our minds, we listened to the verdict. James and Elter proved once again to be the most popular unpopular performers, earning another week to show their stuff, while Labelle and Neufeld waved goodbye. As for the girls, Klazek and Nauth got the boot, leaving Coulter and a visibly shaken Coles still standing.

With four more down, judge Jake Gold closed the episode by strongly urging the remaining 14 contenders to find their voices — or else.