Things are really beginning to heat up for the current season of “American Idol.” With the elimination of contestant Hollie Cavanagh last night, there are only three contestants left vying for the coveted title of American Idol.

Though she was competing on the 11^th season “American Idol,” Cavanagh is originally from Liverpool, England. However, the 18-year-old currently lives in McKinney, Texas. She also tried out for the 10^th season of the show, and made it to the Las Vegas round, though she was eliminated before making it into the Top 25.

After her elimination, Cavanagh stood showing little emotion as video clips of her time on the show played. She later said she had a feeling she would be voted off of the show yesterday.

“I had a gut feeling when I woke up this morning,” she told the Hollywood Reporter backstage after her elimination. “I was looking at everyone like are they treating me different? Who’s talking weird?”

She went on to say “That’s why I wasn’t so emotional today. I was emotionally preparing myself for this.”

After her elimination, she performed her last song, which was Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb.” The song was fitting not only because Cavanagh has called it one of her favorite songs, but also because it was the song she originally auditioned with during season 10.

Before Cavanagh was eliminated, the show featured a performance by Jennifer Lopez of her latest single, “Dance Again.” She was joined during the performance by her boyfriend Casper Smart. Appropriately for the song title, the two danced together closely throughout the number, and afterward Lopez thanked everyone at “American Idol” and remarked that the 25-year-old Smart “is so cute.”

The episode also featured an appearance by season seven winner David Cook. Cook performed his latest single, “The Last Song I’ll Write For You.”

Though this year’s 11^th season of “American Idol” has yet to wrap up, dates for the American Idol Live! tour already have been announced.

The 45-date tour will kick off in Detroit at the Joe Louis Arena on July 6, and will run through September 11 when the former contestants perform at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. In between, the extensive tour will hit Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, Nashville, Toronto and Cincinnati.

Performing during the tour will include contestants that have already been eliminated including Colton Dixon, DeAndre Brackenstick, Erika Van Pelt and Heejun Han, as well as contestants still competing on the show like Joshua Ledet, Skylar Laine, Hollie Cavanagh and Phillip Phillips.

Elise Testone, a 28-year-old teacher from Charleston, S.C. that was eliminated last Friday also will appear on the tour. She recently expressed her excitement about the upcoming tour.

“On tour, I’m going to have the best time,” she said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “I’m going to leave it all out there on the stage. I’m going to meet all the wonderful people who have been supporting us. And enjoy singing a whole song.”

When asked exactly what songs she wanted to perform on the tour, she said she had some suggestions in mind already.

“I want to give some suggestions to the tour manager…” she continued. “Whole Lotta Love,” Led Zepplin, would be awesome but I don’t know. Id’ love to do some Adele on tour. I’d love to do some Jessie J.”

She also added that she would love to reprise “Somebody I Used to Know,” the duet she performed with Phillip Phillips on the show.

All contestants that appeared as part of the Top 10 finalists will be included in the tour this year. The trek is presented by Chips Ahoy! And Ritz, and the U.S. Air Force Reserve is an associate sponsor.

Though considered by many to be one of the front-runners on the current season of “American Idol,” the voting public of America voted to send contestant Jessica Sanchez home last night. Fortunately for Sanchez, some of the “many” that consider her a front-runner in the race include the “American Idol” judges.

For only the fifth time in the history of the show, the judges used their “save” to prevent Sanchez from being sent home, keeping her safe for at least another week.

Judge and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler announced the save during the show.

“We’re gonna use our card tonight,” he said, “especially with an outcome like this.”

Each season, the judges get one “save” to prevent a contestant at the bottom of the voting count from being sent home. Had Sanchez been voted off, she would have finished in seventh place for the season. The other two contestants in the “bottom three” last night were Joshua Ledet and Elise Testone.

After host Ryan Seacrest announced which contestants were in the bottom three, judge Randy Jackson condemned the choice of voters. Saying that he had never seen anything like it in his 11 seasons on the show, he said that America “got it wrong tonight. They got it so wrong.”

After this, it was revealed that Ledet and Testone would be safe, meaning that Sanchez would be sent home, and that she would sing a final song as a farewell. But the judges jumped up on stage before this could happen.

“We’re not letting you sing,” they said. “This is crazy.” “Yes, we’re using the save.” “We are saving Jessica without any doubt.”

Jackson later reiterated his previous point about voters choosing the wrong contestant.

“This girl is one of the best singers in America, ever,” he said. “Please vote for the best… It’s about find the best. I mean, come on.”

During Wednesday’s broadcast of “American Idol,” it was revealed that contestant Jermaine Jones would be kicked off the show—but not due to his singing ability.

In a pre-taped segment, Jones was informed on camera by producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe that he would be dismissed from the show because of outstanding arrest warrants in his home state of New Jersey that he did not reveal to executives of the show. Jones is a 25-year-old vocal instructor from Pine Hill, N.J.

“You were incumbent to tell us the truth about all of this, and it appears that you just haven’t on any level,” Warick said to Jones in the meeting that was aired on Wednesday. In addition to four pending warrants, it has been reported that Jones has two prior arrests. It has been reported that at least some of the past illicit activity involves allegedly using fake names.

Jones had been selected by viewers as one of the top 13 male contestants, leading to his spot in the group of male semifinalists for the 11^th season of the show.

“I didn’t want to get judged,” Jones said in the meeting. “I didn’t want to get penalized for anything that happened in the past.”

The news broke Wednesday afternoon, when Lythgoe told TMZ that Jones would be dismissed during that night’s episode. Warwick spoke more specifically about the charges.

“The big problem… was the fact that he had given false names,” Warwick said. “There might be other false names and other… charges that we just don’t know about.

Jones posted “Awww I will no longer b on the show” to his official “American Idol” Twitter page before it was deleted altogether.

Jones isn’t the first contestant to be kicked off of American Idol. At least three have been kicked off in the past, starting with Corey Clark, who was kicked off in 2003 for allegedly assaulting a family member and resisting arrest.

Ratings for the season 11 premiere of “American Idol” slipped to the lowest levels since the first season of the show premiered back in the summer of 2002. The season premiered with low ratings on Wednesday, and ratings dropped even further for the show that aired Thursday, which faced tougher competition from network sitcoms like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Parks and Recreation.”

In fact, it was the first time since that inaugural season that the successful singing competition has been in danger of not being the ratings leader on whatever night it airs. The first seasons of the show aired on Monday and Tuesday nights, before being moved to its current slot of Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday, the show had 21.93 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings. This represents a 16.45 percent drop from the 26.25 million that tuned in for opening night last year. The lower ratings seem to be becoming a trend, as this year’s numbers represent a 28 percent drop from two years ago.

Thursday was even worse, with only 18 million viewers watching the episode. That’s down 23 percent from Wednesday night’s stats, and 27 percent from the first Thursday show last year. Entertainment Weekly reports that “The Big Bang Theory,” which is on CBS opposite of “American Idol,” had 15.7 million viewers, easily representing the closest ratings gap between “American Idol” and the second-place show since the reality show’s first season.

Many news outlets are reporting that the ratings drops are likely due to viewers tiring of singing competitions. Fox’s “X Factor,” the singing competition with former Idol stars Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul serving as judges, just ended about a month ago.

While “American Idol” has been beaten in the ratings in the past by specials such as the Olympics, this is the first time it is in danger of being edged out by a sitcom.

It’s official. Jennifer Lopez has signed on and will be returning as a judge for “American Idol”. It will be her second season with the hit television talent show.

Recently, it had been said that the singer/actress and Fox TV executives had agreed on a deal that was worth $20 million. However, she hadn’t signed it yet.

Producer Nigel Lythgoe, however, has confirmed that Lopez will be reunited with Steven Tyler, Aerosmith frontman, and Randy Jackson, the record producer, on Idol’s judging panel for their forthcoming 11th series.

Lythgoe made the announcement on Wednesday in Los Angeles on the radio show of Ryan Seacrest’s, who is the presenter for “American Idol.” He said, I’m very happy to announce that our brilliant host and all three of our judges are returning for “American Idol’s” next season.

Later this month, auditions will begin for next season.

Simon Fuller, “American Idol” creator, is suing Fox Broadcasting Company. He alleges that they failed to fulfill their promise made in 2005 to pay him “X-Factor” executive producer fees.

According to the complaint that was filed in Los Angeles today in state court, Fox made a contractual promise that at the time “X-Factor” was broadcast in the U.S. he could be given executive producer fees and credit that were commensurate with his stature and duties within the entertainment industry in order to bring Fuller’s copyright infringement lawsuit over the show that he filed in England for a British program that had similarities that were striking to “American Idol.”

According to Fuller’s complaint, FreemantleMedia North America, a television company, and News Corp Fox have made millions of dollars in profits from the show while refusing to pay Fuller.

Fuller’s spokeswoman Kelly Mullens said, Mr. Fuller has made an attempt to privately settle this matter. However the other parties are refusing to honor the terms of the original contract. The only choice he has left it the pursuit of legal action.

According to Fox, Fuller isn’t owed anything.

FreemantleMedia and Fox said, Mr. Fuller hasn’t performed any duties or been hired on “The X-Factor” U.S. version. His suit seeks credit and payment as executive producer even though the required parties haven’t approved this and he hasn’t been hired. We think his lawsuit has no merit. We expect we will prevail.

Fuller’s attorney Dale Kinsella said the position Fox is taking is absurd and that the company has a contractual obligation to compensate and approve Fuller.

Kinsella said, this case was filed because of the binding agreement of 2005 being breached.

J.Lo, say it isn’t so! Jennifer Lopez, after just one lone season with “American Idol,” may be ready to call it quits after the resident diva helped to revamp the reality competition this year.

On Monday, in a BBC Radio 1 interview, Lopez admitted she is unsure whether she will return to American Idol’s judging panel with Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson.

Lopez said, they aren’t forcing me to make a decision yet. I’m very happy about that. I am still on the fence. I love it and have had an incredible time doing it. However, I have lots of other things going on right now. It will come down to needing to make a choice for next year of what I would like to do. It’s not at any breaking point yet.

Lopez said it will boil down, ultimately, to what is best for her family. Lopez and Marc Anthony, her husband, have three-year-old twins, Emme and Max.

I was always busy at the start of my career. I didn’t mind then since I was all on my own doing this for the very first time and running around. I loved it. However, back then I didn’t really know I could say no. I’m more mature now and have a family. You need to be able to say no.

The judges were wrong.

Scotty McCreery, the country crooner from North Carolina, beat Lauren Alaina, the 16 year old from Tennessee, to win the “American Idol” title.

According to Ryan Seacrest, host of “Idol,” there was a record setting 122 million votes cast.

McCreery said to Seacrest, never would I imagine this in my wildest dreams. First I need to thank the Lord. He’s the one who got me here.

Despite the fact that in recent weeks McCreery had become the frontrunner, the sentimental favorite and judges’ pick was Alaina, following her performance on Tuesday when she sang despite having a strained vocal cord.

The last woman “Idol” winner was Jordin Sparks in 2007.

Viewers had to endure over two hours of musical mash reuniting the 13 finalists in order to get the final results.

Aerosmith frontman and “Idol” judge Steven Tyler screamed through the song “Dream On.” The booty-licious shaking from fellow judge Jennifer Lopez was the only thing memorable from the performance with her husband Marc Anthony. Spider-Man was swinging overhead while the Edge and Bono performed. The night’s most theatrical moment came when Lady Gaga dived off the high scaffold along with one of the male dancers to close out “The Edge of Glory.”

The judges eccentricities were gently mocked and the finalists rivalries were parodied by the montage packages.

Although this was a gentler season in many ways, the producers of “Idol” couldn’t resist one last time showcasing the delusional performers from the audition rounds who got crushed.

Stars on hand to show the wannabes how things are done included Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, Gladys Knight, TLC, Lil Jon, Beyonce, Jack Black, Judas Priest and Tim McGraw.

McCreery needs to enjoy the limelight while he can. Lee DeWyze, last year’s “Idol” winner, didn’t even get an invitation to perform for this year’s finale. The memory of “American Idol” only runs a short while longer than one of their Ford Focus commercials.

It’s a first for ‘American Idol’, two teens from the south battling out to be America’s tenth ‘Idol’ winner, Carolina native Scotty McCreery and Georgia’s best Lauren Alaina.

From the audition phase till the homestretch of the competition, many believe that this season is the best of the talent show yet – fresh, raw and the most versatile group of new talents – to hit the famous stage, all these despite the fans’ and critics’ initial reservations with this season’s new set of judges.

A closer look at these two finalists reveal that fans are afflicted with the country music fever, a theme that has been clearly missing on previous ‘Idol’ finals. McCreery, 17, hails from Garner, NC and has impressed everyone with his fresh take on Kenny Rogers’ or Alan Jackson’s classics, his winning spin on Thompson Square’s “Are you Gonna Kiss Me or Not”, or his well received mimicry of Josh Turner while singing “Your Man”, with which he was actually joined – by surprise – by the country star himself during the finalist’s performance in his home turf. The two shared a duet singing “Your Man” and “Long Black Train”.

Alaina, 16, is the prized gem of Rossville, GA. During the audition, she has wowed the judges with her awesome impromptu duet with new ‘Idol’ judge Steven Tyler, and throughout the competition, she has translated her life’s drama (she has a sister, Holly, who is a brain tumor survivor which she considers her musical inspiration) into great performances, utilizing material from female country greats like Leann Womack, Martina McBride, Faith Hill and The Band Perry. Performing onstage is no unfamiliar territory for this teenage inspiration, as she has been doing karaoke gigs at a local Magoo’s along with singing while spinning pizza dough at a local CiCi’s after school.

Tune in on May 24 and 25, Tuesday and Wednesday, and find out who gets crowned as the new ‘American Idol’, at 8 PM on FOX.