The top 12 contestants have been announced last night. Sadly, Danny Noriega went home, the popular Vote for the Worst pick. He's no Sanjaya, though. Noriega pulled it together and made it through a final performance of Tainted Love to close the show.

However, their other choice is still on, as I have predicted: Amanda Overmyer. Apart from Noriega, Asia'h Epperson, Kady Malloy and Luke Menard won a ticket home.

Yesterday night, the top 8 girls took on the stage of American Idol: Kristy Lee Cook, Asia’h Epperson, Kady Malloy, Ramiele Malubay, Syesha Mercado, Amanda Overmyer, Carly Smithson and Brooke White. It was copycat night again, and apart from some strong performances from Brooke White, who did a stripped down version of Pat Benatar’s Love Is A Battlefield and, somewhat surprisingly, Amanda Overmyer, who nailed Joan Jett's I Hate Myself For Loving You.

The 18-year-old Kady Malloy risked too much with her version of Queen's Who Wants to Live Forever (come on, Queen never sounds right except on Freddie's voice). Simon said she sang like a robot and announced he has issues with Malloy's "massive lack of personality." Now she's out, so it looks like the viewers agreed with Simon.

To make things even more depressing, both Asia'h Epperson and Syesha Mercado tried Whitney Houston songs. Asia'h Epperson bored with I Wanna Dance With Somebody, attracting some mean comments from Simon who thought she was a "second-rate Whitney." Well, it turned out that Whitney was bad luck for Asia'h, as with other Idol wannabes.

Syesha Mercado ended the night with Saving All My Love for You, making some viewers want that rules are changed so more people are kicked out each week.

Meanwhile, the show’s producers said the recent revelation that American Idol contestant David Hernandez used to work as an adult entertainer in a Phoenix gay strip club will not jeopardize his spot on the contest.

The Vote for the Worst (American Idol contestants) campaign had selected this season’s male contestant: Danny Noriega, but now he's out and another "worst" contestant will have to be selected. Any bets? Their other choice is rocker Amanda Overmyer. The Votefortheworst.com site was started in 2004 to support "the entertaining contestants who the producers would hate to see win on American Idol."