It seems that the whole drama thing ended for contestants Nathaniel Marshall and Kristen McNamara of popular talent show “American Idol.”

 

The two singers who argued with their group throughout Hollywood Week were among the nine semifinalists that had to go home on Wednesday, as they had not obtained enough votes to keep them in the Fox singing competition. In addition, the pair was not selected to come back for the special wild card round reintroduced this season, either.

 

The third group of three lucky finalists moved to the top 12: Lil Rounds, the soft 23-year-old mom of three from Memphis, Tenn.; Scott MacIntyre, the poignant 23-year-old piano player from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Jorge Nunez, the charismatic 20-year-old college student from Carolina, Puerto Rico. The three contestants benefited from the most viewer votes on Tuesday.

 

The program’s four judges appeared to agree with the viewers this week, as they did not want to lose Lil Rounds, who received the most significant support following her performance of Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You.” The panel also praised the two other contestants who advanced in the competition. Jorge Nunez started crying immediately after singing Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”

 

“You’re born to sing,” said judge Kara DioGuardi. “What you have comes from the heart.”

 

Toward the show’s conclusion, the judges made public the names of the semifinalists who will get a second chance to enter the top 12. Von Smith, Jasmine Murray, Ricky Braddy, Megan Corkrey, Tatiana Del Toro, Matt Giraud, Jesse Langseth and Anoop Desai will hit the stage again for the wild card round on Thursday. The judges will single out the final three finalists from that group.