I was never a Blake fan, but as the end of American Idol season six drew near, I came to admire his attitude even more than his singing or beatboxing skills. I like that Blake never talked back to the judges in a snotty, defensive manner. I like that he took his lumps with a smile and a shrug. I like that he didn't cry "foul" when forced to sing the generic "This Is My Now."

In the age of reality TV where everyone wants to win at any cost, it was nice to witness a guy who actually seemed to be enjoying the experience itself.

In a conference call with reporters, Blake said, "I honestly didn't care one bit [about] winning or losing, because I call myself a winner just by getting into the top 10."

(S06E41) I am exhausted, truly exhausted. TV should be relaxing. But American Idol's two hour event shows are emotionally-draining. They wear me out. And tonight's show was especially BIG. I'm surprised Ryan didn't call it the "biggest show ever." It actually ran over 2 hours by about eight minutes.

But everything between 8:00 and 10:05 was just filler or commercials. We came here tonight to crown the next American Idol. The judges give their final thoughts. Randy says, "It's Jordin, baby." Paula is just proud of everyone. She congratulates them both. Simon congratulates Jordin (his pick based on the last song Tuesday night).

74 million votes were cast Tuesday night (for a combined total of 609 million votes cast over the season) and this year's American Idol is ...

On Wednesday night, many of us were shocked to see "resident pro" Melinda Doolittle get booted from American Idol. But more shocking than that, many of us swore we heard Ryan Seacrest mistakenly announce her upcoming ouster prematurely.

Here's what happened. After Elliott Yamin performed, and before a commercial break Ryan said, "We've got more music coming up live from Maroon 5. Plus, more emotional results and Melinda Doolittle goes home."

The American Idol format is so brilliant. It's like the marriage of a national sports league, Star Search and the presidential election. After seeing the final three go home to all the fanfare, I can't help thinking how amazing all the intense community support is for the local Idol. It's like watching the home team during the NBA playoffs.

I never really had that experience, though, since my dad was a military man, and I grew up all over the country. That, and because I stayed in L.A. after the show instead of going back to school in Idaho, which is where AI decided to place me.

Boy, that's rough having to learn a couple songs in a week; I think the challenge took its toll on the contestants. Those guys couldn't have looked or sounded more tired -- a fact which wasn't lost on the judges, it seemed.

There was very little love coming from the judges' table tonight. Only Jordin and Melinda seemed to get any praise on a night that should have been Blake's moment to stand out.

Granted, there's only so much you can do with '70s dance tracks, but it's dance music nonetheless. And you'd think that'd be enough to give him an edge.

This week, Martina McBride will be coaching the remaining seven Idol finalists with their country music selections. McBride, considered the "Celine Dion of country music," will also perform her Top-5 single "Anyway" during Wednesday's live results show (April 18) on FOX.

Oh boy, this is going to be a rough week for me. I'm not much of a country music fan, so the songs aren't going to be familiar (unless they all perform Shania Twain or Faith Hill). The contestants already butchered Latin-themed music last week, under the guidance of Jennifer Lopez. But, I have a feeling that this week could be worse.

In her exit interview, Idol's resident rocker, Gina Glocksen, claims she had no idea she would be going home last Wednesday night.

Gina says, "I thought that I had a really good performance on Tuesday, and I was really proud of the song that I chose and the way that I chose to present it."

Until last week, Gina's fans had kept her safely above the bottomfeeders . Gina says, "I didn't even have a chance to be in the bottom three ever, and the one time that I was, I'm going home. So it was pretty hard."