They’ve done this before, right? On “Idol Gives Back” night, they say they are going to eliminate a contestant and then they say they can’t on a charity night, and eliminate two contestants the following week. But not last night. Last night after a heartwarming (and I’m sorry, most of the time, DRAGGING) 2.5 hour show, Ryan Seacrest announced that one of the contestants was going home…..in effect, they were “giving one contestant back,” right? At least that’s how I was looking at it.

Anyway, before we get to the results, here is a blazing fast summary of guest appearances and funny moments…

The Top 12 finalists sang some pre-recorded cheese-fest decked out in all white clothes….Jennifer Garner and Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who landed his plane on the Hudson River, gave inspiration and hope and asked us to donate money to needy families everywhere….Queen Latifah co-hosted the show from a remote location and the first act there were the Black Eyed Peas and their new single, “Rock That Body,” which was positively a horrible song….George Lopez did some “rating the judges” schtick that was mildly amusing.

Then the results began. Crystal Bowersox, safe. Casey James, Bottom 3. No huge surprise. Aaron Kelly and Lee Dewyze….Lee, safe, Aaron, Bottom 3. No huge surprise there either.

Next up…Jeff Beck and Joss Stone…the former an aging rocker who doesn’t look like he’s aged in 30 years and a young Canadian white girl who sounds like Aretha Franklin….that was awesome….Then Alicia Keys, this week’s mentor, performed and didn’t sound good at all….at least not by her standards…..then Carrie Underwood performed and to be honest, at this point we were fast forwarding through stuff we didn’t want to watch! After that Wanda Sykes did a stand up routine and was really really funny. My favorite part was how she made fun of the way they eliminate each contestant by showing them their “journey” at one of the lowest moments in their lives.

Back to results. Mike Lynche, Tim Urban and Siobhan Magnus are left. Siobhan, safe. Mike, safe, again. Tim, Bottom 3. So the Bottom 3 was Casey, Aaron and Tim. No huge surprises again.

Then came a really, really, really long performance by Annie Lennox. Oh, and David Cook traveled to Africa and they showed that visit and he joined Seacrest for a few minutes on stage. After that was the all-star jam of “Stairway To Heaven” with Mary J. Blige on vocals and the likes of one Randy Jackson on bass and Travis Barker on drums and Orianthi on guitar. Holy crap, not only was it a nice job of not making the song sound old and tired, but Mary J. just rocked it out. I might even buy their version today. Finally, Elton John performed before it was all about the results……

Aaron Kelly, safe. Down to Casey and Tim. Tim Urban, you are going home. Finally. After hanging on for dear life the last few weeks, and even having a feature in USA Today this past week, ol’ Tim gave such a horrific performance Tuesday that America had no choice but to send him home. And hey, no charity this week for Tim….they really did send him home on “Idol Gives Back” night!

So here are my power rankings for your Top 6:
1. Crystal Bowersox
2. Lee Dewyze
3. Siobhan Magnus
4. Michael Lynche
5. Casey James
6. Aaron Kelly

What do you think? See you all next week, we’re getting closer and closer to the big finale!

P.S. and yes, despite my snarky blogs, I do intend to donate money to the cause.