'Idol' Viewers Fire Giraud Again -- and This Time, No Reprieve

Two weeks after "American Idol" judges overrode viewers' decision to boot Matt Giraud from the singing competition, viewers booted him again.

A smarter judge than Kara DioGuardi would have realized this was a resounding viewer non-endorsement of the Judges' Save card -- which was introduced this season to make sure there would never be another Jennifer Hudson Debacle: You know, gimongously talented, money-printing Idolette gets the old heave-ho from the show because her fans mistakenly thought she was so secure they did not pick up the phone to vote.

DioGuardi, not seeing the elephant in the room, thumbed her nose at viewers and told Giraud as he exited, "One of the best things we did this season was save you." Really?

But the night's real surprise was Adam Lambert, presumed to be one of this year's two most popular Idolettes, winding up with the second smallest take of the week's more than 47 million viewer votes. It was Lambert's first visit to the Bottom Two.

Had Lambert been kicked off the show this week, that would have had people talking today, unlike Giraud's exit two weeks earlier -- the one the judges blocked.

Giraud and Lambert tripped up while singing tunes from the Rat Pack era the previous night. Giraud mistakenly took "mentor" Jamie Foxx's advice to put "My Funny Valentine" in a lower key; Lambert had no one to blame for his appropriately Vegas performance of "Feeling Good," having apparently not taken advice from Foxx, which caused a shocked Foxx to say: "Absolutely incredible -- you don't care about who I am at all."

Another of last night's stunners: Simon Cowell, the only judge worth listening to -- who on Tuesday called Giraud's performance "absolutely brilliant" and his phrasing "Nat King Cole"-esque -- heaped even more praise on Lambert and predicted that Allison Iraheta would be last night's at-risk singer after her "mechanical" performance. But Iraheta was one of two Idolettes to receive the most votes from viewers, joining Danny Gokey in the Safety Seats.

At the end of last night's results show, host Ryan Seacrest asked Simon what advice he had for the four remaining Idolettes going into next week's round.

"I'm probably the last person to give advice at the moment," Simon said, in a rare instance of humility.

Then he thought of some: "Don't listen to me."

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NBC has picked up "Celebrity Apprentice" for spring 2010 because, says the network's head of alternative programming, Paul Telegdy, the show has "exploded in popularity this season."