The March of The Men Begins

Brandon Rogers is the first "American Idol" finalist to get the old heave-ho on this round of the Fox singing competition.

Ironically, Rogers, 28, who got the bad news last night, was one of two professional backup singers to make it to the top 12 on this year's edition of the country's most watched TV show.

Rogers choked and forgot the words to his song -- the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love."

Brandon of the unbreakable smile wasn't the only contestant to forget lyrics during Tuesday's performance show; Haley Scarnato did, too, when she tried to sing Diana Ross's "Missing You." But Haley kept on driving till she regained consciousness, whereas Brandon completely took his hands off the wheel -- forgetting Paula Abdul's First Rule of Faking It Onstage: The audience doesn't know the lyrics, so just keep on singing and they'll never know the difference.

And for that, "Idol" fans could not forgive him.

Speaking of forgetting the lyrics, Ross, this week's guest coach, seemed to flub a word or two as she diva-ed her way through a performance of "More Today Than Yesterday" during last night's results show.

Ross also was, to borrow the words of judges Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Abdul (not directed at Ross, of course, because that would be rude) pitchy, shouted in the loud parts and, overall, sounded like a singer at a wedding on a Disney cruise ship bound for a bar in Majorca.

On the other hand, she looked fabulous.

But the night wasn't a total loss. The second-lowest vote-getter was Sanjaya Malakar and the Hair of a Thousand Dos. At this rate, he should be gone next week.

The singer to receive the third-fewest votes this week was Nosferatu, a.k.a. Phil Stacey, though he didn't have to stand on the Stage of Shame for long. He was quickly declared safe by show host Ryan Seacrest and sent back to his seat -- safe until the next full moon.

Notice how the bottom-three vote-getters this week were all guys? This is as it should be. The guys are very weak this season. At this rate, we'll have them cleared out by late April.

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