i am shocked carly went home. not that i think she could've taken it all, but i don't think she was the worst this week.

Clearly the wrong result this week. Brooke probably should've gone home. But Carly was never going to win anyway. Unfortunately, she had a bad habit of making terrible song choices (and was about to again if Sir Andrew hadn't saved her) and never really lived up to the hype.

One of the reasons Cook is so successful is b/c he has exceeded expectations. Now maybe its not fair when one contestant comes in with greater expectations, thus making it more likely they will crash and burn, but that is the reality. And then those "great expectation" contestants (like Carly) sometimes go out before inferior singers b/c they underwhelmed whereas the inferior singers "grew" (see KL Cook and Syesha). No real explantion for Brook though. However, unfair as the expectations may be, if you are truly great, you will meet them (see Archuleta who has really only disappointed once, Carrie Underwood).

But at the end of the day, Carly has gotten more exposure than any unknown struggling singer needs to make it and she has a world of opportunity before her. I like her and hope she is able to capitalize on her opportunities in the real world better than she did on Idol.