'American Idol' Result: Brooke White Goes Home

PAULA ABDUL Still standing after her Neil Diamond night controversy; Brooke White, however, is packing up her guitar

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American Idol" voters decided Brooke White's heartfelt performance of ''I Am...I Said'' was not enough to redeem a ''nightmare'' rendition of ''I'm a Believer,'' sending the folkie former nanny home on the Wednesday night results show after an eventful Neil Diamond night. Syesha Mercado made a return visit to the bottom two, but once again made it through. The final female contestant standing will join the front-running Davids (Archuleta and Cook) next week for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-themed show along with Jason Castro, who was announced as safe early in the hour, quickly ending any suspense over whether he'd be negatively affected by the aftershocks from Paula Abdul's much-discussed critique of a song he hadn't yet performed.

Ryan Seacrest addressed last night's controversy in a brief, vague statement, focusing on unspecified ''rumors.'' ''It sparked a lot of gossip about Paula,'' the Idol host said, ''and I read some of this online this morning. And just for the record, the rumors, they're not true. She's part of our family and we love her.''

The night's show also included a performance of ''Pocketful of Sunshine'' by Natasha Bedingfield and ''Pretty Amazing Grace'' from Neil Diamond. Former Idol contestants Constantine Maroulis and Gina Glocksen also checked in to promote their Fox Reality show American Idol Extra.

For complete analysis of tonight's results show and to post your own thoughts about Brooke's farewell and Idol's handling of the Paula controversy, see Michael Slezak's American Idol TV Watch. Below, check out the results of last night's poll (you thought Jason Castro was tonight's least likely to succeed), and cast your vote in tonight's poll: Who thinks either Jason or Syesha has any chance of breaking up an all-Davids final?

Results of yesterday's post-Idol poll: