Surprise, surprise! Or not…Syesha Mercado was eliminated last night from American Idol after host Ryan Seacrest announced that 56 million home viewer votes were cast following Tuesday night’s performances.

"There's too many words," said Mercado when Seacrest encouraged her to say something to her fans. "I don’t know what to say. I just want to say thank you. Just thank you."

Tuesday night, the contestants had three occasions to impress the voters. They sang three songs: one they chose, one chosen by the judges, and one the producers chose.

Trying to clear the way for the two Davids, all the judges criticized Syesha during the show, even Paula, who is usually the softest and has something nice to say about every contestant.

It was strange to see Syesha criticized so much just as she was giving her best and had started to have more confidence and be more open. In the last shows, Syesha proved she was not only a singer, but could also make a good entertainer, showing off her dancing skills and trying to be as expressive as possible. Well, all her efforts were in vain, as her fate was pretty much decided already.

For the first round, in which the contestants had to sing a song picked by the judges, Randy gave Syesha the occasion to perform a song by one of her favorite artists: Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You.” She did quite a nice job, but the judges kept blabbering about how stunning and gorgeous she looked.

In an attempt to praise her, Randy actually revealed Syesha’s situation.

"I thought that would work really well for you. You did an amazing job on it," Randy said after the performance. "I could see your heart beaming and smiling all the way down here. Syesha, I've got to say one thing to you, I'm so happy you are peaking at the right time in this competition, that's why you're standing there at No. 3."

At No.3, not in the Top 3. Could he have been more obvious than that?

However, Seacrest noticed Syesha’s improvement, as he asked her whether she had been keeping her skills hidden until now, so she could amaze everybody in the end. Smiling joyfully, Syesha said she felt more comfortable now and could finally be herself. Wasn’t it a little too late for that, Syesha?

Her second performance, of the song “Fever” by Peggy Lee, was not bad at all, with Syesha also doing a sexy dance that involved a chair on stage. Too bad for her, the judges were determined not to give her a chance.

"Out of all the songs you could have chosen to sing, I'm surprised you picked this song," Paula said. "I just feel like it's an interesting choice, but I'm not sure that it shows me who Syesha is as an artist."

Simon was nice as usual, telling Syesha she would probably regret her “quite lame cabaret performance” the next day, therefore predicting her elimination, just as Randy had, a little earlier.

For the third round, the producers chose "Hit Me Up" by Gia Farrell to be sung by Syesha.

"Again, as much as I liked it, I don't know if it's the type of song that defines you -- Syesha the artist," said Paula, who apparently lacks inspiration when it comes to criticizing a contestant and re-uses the same phrase time and again. "I don't know if it's going to be good enough to get into the finals of American Idol."

"It's a little bit forgettable," Simon said. Well, lucky for David Archuleta his songs never seem forgettable to Simon…!

All in all, Tuesday was “let’s bring down Syesha” night.

Last night, before the results of the votes were revealed, Randy praised all the three contestants, telling them they should be proud of themselves.

"You guys did an amazing job. You should be well proud of yourselves" said Randy. "Give yourselves a big round of applause no matter what happens."

"You're all standing on a path that's reserved for nothing but great things to come," Paula added. "For that, congratulations."

Simon decided not to say anything too nice, not even at the end of the show. He only expressed his impatience regarding the grand finale.

"If it's the finale I'm hoping for, we're going to have a real humdinger next week," he said.

Last night’s show also included video montages from the finalists’ recent hometown visits and a performance of Idol third-season winner Fantasia Barrino, who sang “Bore Me” from her 2006 album.

So, with the two Davids standing, it’s difficult to say which one will win.

According to the Dial Idol Web site, which traces voting patterns, Archuleta was leading the race after the first shows, but he was later surpassed by David Cook, who was the No.1 Idol in the rounds of 10, 7, 6, 4 and also this week’s round 3.

Recently, David Archuleta was the center of attention, because of his father, Jeff Archuleta, who was banned from the show’s rehearsals by the producers due to his pushy behavior. It remains to be seen whether this will affect little David in a positive or negative way.