goodbye gina

This is the elimination that's shocked me the most so far. Make no mistake...I fully predicted she'd be in the bottom three. But from the beginning I thought her niche as the token rocker chick -- make that token rocker -- would at least get her into the top half.

It's hard to tell where Gina went wrong, perhaps she went too much toward the hardcore end of things...although I still don't think she's too different from season one's third-place finisher Nikki McKibbin. I read in an article recently that one of the producers recommended she remove her tongue ring in an attempt to appeal to "middle America," but she refused. Who knows if that did her any harm.

But watching Gina get emotional during her final song really reaffirmed my hatred of Sanjaya. Why is he still here?

Ultimately, I think Gina just got hit with a week that wasn't her thing. I predicted she'd have difficulty with the American standards theme at the onset of things, but I honestly didn't think her performance was that bad. The slow tempo was probably what did her in.

Thoughts?