Yesterday, I spent about 1,000 words blabbering about the X Factor contestants and going on in detail about each of their three songs. In fact, I recently figured out that I’ve written twenty X recaps, which if I’m doing my math right (forgive me I’m a math-phobic Journalism graduate), equals about 20,000-30,000 words on the subject.

This is basically my way of explaining why this Elimination Show recap is so anemic. Since we went through all 10 performances last night and will, without a doubt, go through each of next week’s two night finale’s musical numbers, I’m going to only very quickly go through this Elimination Show.

In the first half of the show, it’s announced that Carlito Olivero and Alex & Sierra are immediately safe. Carlito was very close to getting the guillotine tonight and that joy seemed to show singing “Suavamente.” To celebrate their place in the top three, A&S sang “Let Her Go.” It was beautiful, I don’t think A&S are capable of anything else, but it lacked a bit of the oomph of their superb “Gravity.”

Yesterday, I theorized that Jeff would be sent home although it should be Restless Road. For perhaps the first time this season, the voting public finally eliminated the right person. After being a “crowd” favorite since the Four Chair Challenge, Restless Road were sent packing.

Although there was a “gap in the market,” as Simon said, for a country boy band, the guys of Restless Road just didn’t have the musical chops. For those who don’t know, I also recap Saturday Night Live for this site and recently wrote about One Direction who starred with Paul Rudd in the last episode. While I’m no fan of theirs, I was surprised how tight their harmonies were and how, when they broke up into solos, their pitch didn’t waver. So, yes, it was RR’s time to head home, invest in some vocal lessons and hope those screaming fangirls are there when they try to reemerge a few months from now.

To cap off the evening, Jeff sang “Open Arms,” a nearly perfect song for him that shows an emotional depth lacking in many of his performances. If only it was a half-step lower…

What did you think? Were you happy to see RR hit the road? Leave a comment with who you think should have gone home and who you think will win the season.

Image Courtesy of Fox