WHO-DA THUNK IT?

American Idol contestant Danny Gokey was living a charmed life throughout this season's competition being the only contestant who was never in the bottom three. In a shocking result after over 88 million votes were cast Gokey was voted off the show last night.

Gokey's downfall could have been the song Paula Abdul selected for him 'Dance Little Sister' by Terrance Trent Darby was not good for his voice. Simon Cowell said, "I think it was the wrong song." We rate the contestants while the show is in progress and noted prior to Cowell's comment 'Not a good song' (for Gokey).

It was a night that the judges picked a song for the contestants and the contestants chose a song of their choice. Unfortunately Gokey got Abdul, Kris Allen had Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson select his 'Apologize' by One Republic and Adam Lambert had Cowell's selection 'One' by U 2.

In a more just world it would be fair to the contestant if they had a choice of three songs so they could choose one that they felt more comfortable with. In Gokey's case he had never heard of the song and was stuck with it.

The more shocking statistic is that there were only one million votes separating the final two finalists Lambert and Allen. The question is who the top vote getter was. Though the program didn't reveal those details it does conjure up a thought, could Allen have that strong of a following that he received more votes than the strong favorite to win it all Lambert?

Allen has been a quiet, low profile dark horse from the beginning. He drew plenty of criticism from Cowell for not being more assertive with his personality and recommended that he put on some swagger and act like he wanted to win the competition.

We rated him a middleweight talent from the beginning and never thought he would make it to the final six. Obviously the American Idol voters disagreed with our and Cowell's opinions.

We don't recall Allen's audition but we do strongly recall others such as Gokey, Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta, Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nunez among others. We don't recall Lambert but when he was exposed to the world during the LA auditions he jumped out like a lightening bolt and from that point on we never thought anyone possessed anything near his talent. His voice was superb and remains so.

So what's the deal with the quiet Allen? Why is he so popular with not such a strong voice or presentation? Could it be his humility and voters are courting for him as their representative Rocky Balboa?

When host Ryan Seacrest asked Cowell his opinion of the results the callous Brit rolled his eyes and complimented Gokey's talent and said of next weeks final, "This could be what we call A BIG DING DONG (smashing final)."

On the surface it is hard to believe that Allen can win the competition. Lambert has a much better voice, presentation and a wealth of experience, training and has worked in theatrical shows since he was a child. Last week the shock was that he was in the bottom three for the first time.

Given the surprising results thus far one never knows what will happen for the finale of this dull AI season.

NOTES: IN THE HOUSE

Several eliminated AI contestants were in the audience but not introduced. Seen were the two youngest contestants this season Jasmine Murray sitting with Allison Iraheta. The two entered the competition at 16 years of age. Murry turned 17 in March and Iraheta becme 17 last month. They have been friends from the beginning of the season and appear to remain so.

Also in the house were Anoop Desai, Matt Giraud, Scott MacIntyre, Megan Joy and Alexis Grace. Season 6 winner Jordan Sparks made a guest appearance on the results show and appears to have lost some weight. The now 19-year-old appears to be working on a sexy image. Jordan won the competition when she was 17 but was 16 when the competition began.

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AMAZING RACE WINNERS

Its done and dusted as the Amazing Race USA edition came to a close with siblings Tammy and Victor Jih taking home the US $1 million prize. Second place surprisingly went to former Miami Dolphin cheerleaders Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmonson. The mother and son team of Margie and Luke Adams finished third.

It was a down to the wire finish as Margie and Luke were the first to arrive at the final challenge that would determine the winner. The task was to place surf boards with logos of the road blocks they encountered in order from the beginning of the race. Luke sped through the task and had 1 through 11 in order but couldn't remember the final road block # 12 that they had just completed.

Victor took on the challenge and being a lawyer as is his sister Tammy he lined up the surfboards in order and they raced to the finish line for the title.

The cheerleaders encountered problems on the road as their taxi driver didn't know the location and had to stop for gas. Despite the setback they finished ahead of Luke who still couldn't come up with the answer after the other two teams were at the finish line.

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