Canadian Idol Update: Tara Oram Eliminated

Unlike last week, there were no surprises on Tuesday night's elimination show.

Things kicked off with a group number, as usual. In keeping with the pop/rock theme, the Idols sang "All For Love," a Sting/Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart hit that topped the charts when the Idols were practically fetuses.

Tara Oram killed it dead (in a good way). Jaydee Bixby seemed kind of uncomfortable. Brian Melo sang it like a Saturday Night Live cast member making fun of a charity supergroup recording session. Oh yeah! He's sending his love down the well.

There was a video recap of Monday night's atrocious collection of performances. (Matt Rapley's delightful performance is exempt from that insult.)

After the commercial break, Maroon 5 played "Wake Up Call." It was insipid and boring.

They followed that up with "Makes Me Wonder," which made me wonder why these dudes are as popular as they are. I just shut my eyes and thought about Enrique Iglesias.

Elimination time tore me away from Iglesias' glossy eyelashes and perfect lips. Rats.

I didn't find last night's elimination as tense as any of the others. Probably because I had already decided that a girl was going home and that girl would, in all likelihood, be Oram (I know, it's so completely ridiculous to make an accurate prediction after the fact, but it's true). The teen girl voters previously on Team Neufeld would be divided among the other dreamy boys (mostly flocking to Melo), leaving the two remaining ladies high and dry. And taking Oram's poor performance and Carly Rae Jepsen's cult following into consideration, the result seemed fairly logical.

Rapley was safe, obviously and thankfully. Jepsen was bottom three for the second week in a row. Bixby was safe. Dwight D'Eon? Wait for it.. bottom three! Rah rah, sis boom bah! Melo was safe. And Oram was declared bottom three. After the commercial break, Oram was eliminated. A chorus of "boos" followed the announcement.

Oh come on, live studio audience. Don't act so shocked. That was easily her weakest performance of the competition, and it's not like she was a frontrunner.

"Country music is still alive," declared Oram. Darn tootin'!Oram then sang "Walkin' On Sunshine" with much more gusto than Monday night, and she sweetly visited family members in the audience. She also looked directly into the camera and thanked the viewers at home. It was a classy farewell from a consistently classy dame.

Next week: Kelly Clarkson, Kelly Clarkson, Kelly Clarkson! Guilty pleasure, ahoy!