Syesha Eliminated from American Idol, The Davids Advance to the Finals

Now that I'm done drying my tears after watching tonight's American Idol (talk about emotional!), I can report that Syesha Mercado has been eliminated from the competition!

Syesha's elimination means it will be David Archuleta vs. David Cook in the finals, just like most of us have been predicting for some time now.  

Syesha, who stepped up her game in the final weeks of the competition,  said goodbye at the end of what has to be my favorite results show this season. Season three winner Fantasia Barrino, showing off a new bright-red hair color, gave a high-energy, interesting performance that had the crowd cheering but left Simon Cowell looking puzzled. And then it was time for the Kleenex as footage was shown of the three finalists returning to their hometowns.

We got to see  just how much support the finalists have at home as huge crowds showed up to cheer them on.  There were school visits, mini concerts, and moving moments during the eventful visits.  All of the love coming their way moved all three finalists  to tears.

After the hometown segments, we looked back at each contestant's amazing experience on the show -- from Syesha, who lost her voice in Hollywood, to David Cook, who tried out on a whim when he accompanied his brother Andrew to the auditions.

I was wishing all three could stay after watching those tear-jerking hometown segments, but Syesha was told that she would not be moving on to the finals. When Ryan Seacrest asked Syesha how she felt after her elimination, she simply said "There's too many words. I don't know what to say. I just wanna say thank you. Just thank you."

Next week, David A. and David C. will go head to head in the finals. To quote Simon Cowell "I think we're going to have a real humdinger next week."