In the first "unfair" elimination of the season, Carly Smithson, who turned in one of the strongest performances during Andrew Lloyd Webber week, was sent packing, reminding all who pretend to believe otherwise, that American Idol is, surprise, a popularity contest! And that's okay.

Joining Smithson at the bottom was Syesha Mercado, whose lack of personality came back to bite her. Jason Castro and Brooke White were genuinely shocked to walk away unscathed, as all three judges roundly criticized their performances—but 38 million Idol voters mobilized to keep their favorites in the competition, and Castro and White, judging by the in-studio screaming of several hundred rabid teen girls, clearly have enormous fan bases.

After a recap punctuating Tuesday's poor performances (in White's case, her line flub was mentioned no less than four times), David Cook and David Archuleta were called on stage and quickly sent to the safety couches.

The other Idols were left to ponder their fates for a few minutes, when instead of a performance by Madonna (damn!), Leona Lewis, the winner of Britain's X-Factor, an American Idol-like competition co-judged by Simon Cowell, took the stage to perform her pond-jumping hit "Bleeding Love." The cameras then caught up with former Idols performing on Broadway, including season one's Tamyra Gray. No stranger to an unfair booting herself, Gray seems to be doing just fine, starring as Mimi in Rent. Claymates also got their fix when the show visited Clay Aiken at Monty Python's Spamalot, where he's enjoying top billing and a new hairdo.

Eventually Ryan Seacrest got to the dream shattering. Mercado and White, pictures of confidence and resignation, respectively, were on the receiving end of the night's first shocker, when White was declared safe. Mercado, clearly not expecting it, took her seat among the dreaded stools of elimination. Seacrest then brought out Smithson and Castro. To her credit, Smithson, after seeing Mercado sent to the danger zone, seemed to expect a low vote tally and didn't give too much away when Castro chosen over her.

After asking both Mercado and Smithson to re-sing their songs, a trick used by Idol producers to drag the show out for a full hour, Smithson was eliminated to the silence and boos of the audience.

Reacting to the vote, Cowell jokingly apologized to Smithson "for giving you a compliment" but said she should leave with her "head held high." Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul were in agreement that an early departure from the show was not a kiss of death for Ireland-born Smithson, who made a quick speech about the "the American Dream" or something.

Next week, another off-the-beaten-path star, the inimitable Neil Diamond, will mentor, in what may prove to be another tough pass for the Idols. The question that remains: who, who, will get "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"?