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http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979205468

Fans of American Idol are still buzzing this weekend after the shocking exit of Pia Toscano. Nigel Lythgoe made some recent comments about the singer’s exit this week at the Las Vegas auditions for So You Think You Can Dance, which will return to Fox as soon as this season of Idol wraps up.

Lythgoe said the following during an interview at the event, according to MJ’s Big Blog: “I know the [voting] results, so I know she was never a frontrunner…The fact of the matter is, it appears that Pia didn’t connect with the audience the way we maybe think she did.”

Something had to happen for Pia Toscano to go home. With rumors of a voting glitch and the possibility that she just didn’t grab the audience as much as everyone thought she did, anything could possibly explain her exit. However, Nigel Lythgoe did hint that something might need to change at American Idol to avoid these shocking eliminations in the future.

Nigel said the following: “Maybe if we change the rules next season, maybe do the same thing we do on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’….so that America votes for the bottom three, and then the judges decide who goes home….I think that will be thought about.”

If such a change was to be made, Simon Fuller would have to put it in place. While Nigel Lythgoe helps run things behind the scenes, he is not the man in charge at Idol like he is at So You Think You Can Dance. The judges making the final decision at Idol would be different, but it would make things more consistent. There would be no need for the save each season. The bottom three would still be chosen by the viewing public, but the judges would have final say.

It could be a welcomed change, but there is no way to know if it will happen or not. What do you think? Should the judges have control over the elimination each week? With judge reaction, there is no way Pia Toscano would have gone home this week. Who would have gone home in her place then - Stefano Langone or Jacob Lusk?

re: changing the rules of who goes home. NO WAY. IMHO, the judges were way out of line to question the way people voted; it's their job to suggest, not to dictate or change the results. As long as someone makes the top 10, the show has given them an excellent boost toward a career.

Part of the fun is the sheer randomness of who is voted off. The whole point of AI is to have a vehicle by which the buying public actually gets to pull the strings, and not have some executives control what we listen to.

JMHO. Another opinion, I still think there's been some manipulation. How did Crystal Bowersox come in second to such a bland and non-Idolike what's-his-name anyway? And what about Jordan Sparks?....she was a bit lifeless and contrived. But we accepted those results. The rules are the rules, and as in the real world of celebrity, the results can be unpredictable. Pia will just have to learn to deal with it with dignity and gratitude if she's ever going to be an "American Idol" in her own right.