Too many Cooks in the kitchen...

Country contender Kristy Lee Cook felt the heat last night as she became the sixth finalist to be voted out this season. She took it well all things considering, and even when it was announced Brooke White would be joining her in the bottom two, Kristy Lee comforted her by saying she was not going anywhere and she would be the one leaving.

The irony is that Kristy Lee had been improving each and every week since the Top 12, and she delivered one of her best performances with "Forever." As for why she was eliminated in spite of her growing success, her obscurity of her song choice could be partly to blame, although usually that works to a contestant's advantage. The true reason she went was because the Idol kitchen is too crowded with talent, and has been for the majority of Season 7. At this point, it's any given week for every single finalist that is not named "David."

What made Kristy Lee's departure especially satisfying was her ad-libbing and the deliberate uncomfortable mood she set for Simon in her encore performance. It was refreshing to see her leave with such a great attitude.

As for the rest of the results show, Season 5 second runner-up Elliott Yamin delivered a touching performance of his song "Free," and he mentioned the fact that the performance was the first one that his mother, Claudette, had not attended, following her passing late last month. Elliott was all smiles as Ryan gave his condolences and gave Claudette praise she most definitely would have appreciated.

Mariah Carey, this week's mentor, also performed, taking a stab at her brand new single "Bye Bye." Mariah flattered Randy when she gave him credit for a lot of her success, out of courtesy and kindness, of course.

As for the dreaded "group-choosing" bottom 3 style that Ryan put the finalists through for the umpteenth season, a tradition that was started by Bo Bice back in Season 4 was upheld, as David Archuleta promptly sat in the middle of the stage when asked to choose the group he thought was safe. The only contestant to not follow Bo's example during Top 7 week was Taylor Hicks, who correctly chose the correct group back in Season 5.

The lowest point of the results show was without a doubt the finalists' group performance of the Mariah Carey-Boyz II Men duet of "One Sweet Day." There was such disorganization and the vocal pairings did not mesh whatsoever (Syesha Mercado and David Cook? C'mon...)

Despite the fact that Kristy Lee was not going to win no matter what, her elimination goes to show that from here on out, it's every man and woman for his or herself. And Andrew Lloyd Webber week does not look to be any kinder to the finalists.