Yes, Ellen said today on her show that she is not part of the auditions b/c that took place before her acceptance. She will eventually be on once that narrow it down. It will be interesting to see who they find to replace Simon. I really like him and think he does a GREAT job on the show in terms of who really was good and not, and the constructive criticism he gives. He'll be a hard one to follow.

I don't know Colton Berry personally, but he is very well known in the area. He lives about 15 miles from where I live. Excerpt from our newspaper: Colton is well-known to area theater fans. The 17-year-old has long been a fixture in the area fine arts community. Berry has directed and starred in musicals since he was 16, including "Beauty and the Beast," "Jeckyl and Hyde," "Chicago" and a completely sold-out production of "Aida." The High School senior also performed with the 2006 production of "Big River" and the 2007 musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Sorry to say I wasn't too impressed with his performance. I had expected better. Sue

Not hardly the only one, Susan. Syesha is a great singer. She's another one I don't understand why people dislike her. Really bugging me to know what is going here, but I know I never will. No one will admit it, anyway. Chikeze is better than at least three other contestants - Jason, Kristy, and Ramiele. Jason is a cutie pie with a nice voice, but he's not a great singer and he's NOT a good performer at all. Kristy should have gone ages ago but taking only her performance Tuesday night, my 8 year old could have done at least as good a job with a song so beloved in the country. She, or whoever chose that song for her, was a marketing genius for that moment and kept her in the contest another week. Ramiele has either lost enthusiasm or is totally lost. The only thing I can figure must be happening is the producers are controlling the outcome or voters are not being honest with these people - true to themselves but not the contestants. So not fair at all!

I know I'm late in commenting on this but I'm so very disappointed. I thought that David A., David C. and Michael would be the top three. I just really can't see any of the girls going to the top. I liked Michael and David Cook equally, so now I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for David Cook. I really think it's way overdue for both Carly and Sayesha to leave the show. Brooke is nice but I find her very dull and not an entertainer at all. So, here I am, heartbroken over Michael being out of the competition. When Ryan made the comment that this time last season they chose to not send anyone home, I thought for sure they were going to do this with Michael. Why did Ryan even bring that up???