The Tribune

By LESH AFTER discovering that contestant Jermaine Jones secretly kept information concerning a number of outstanding arrest warrants, American Idol producers quickly moved to eliminate him off the show, last week. Host Ryan Seacrest opened the show on Wednesday by announcing ahead of time that one of the idol contestants will be leaving the show. Only to find out later, it was the "gentle giant," Jermaine Jones. "With the cooperation of law enforcement, we made a discovery that left us no choice but to eliminate one of our finalists from the competition. When you're doing a live show, anything can happen," Seacrest told viewers. In a taped segment Jermaine was seen speaking to AI executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick about his criminal past. I am sure viewers were just as shocked as I was when Nigel told Jermaine about his four active outstanding warrants. Both producers told Jermaine they would have appreciated his honesty earlier on in the competition. The 25 year old's former arrest stemmed from two fighting incidents when Jermaine allegedly provided a false name to police. An apparently nervous Jermaine responded by saying: "I just was scared, nervous. I didn't want to get judged; I didn't want to get penalized for anything that happened in the past." American Idol fan Shauna Lewis* told In Ya Ear, she did not expect Jermaine's departure. "When Ryan said someone was leaving I was like okay, something is wrong but I never thought he was the one being sent home." Kia Clarke* said: "No surprise to me. I don't know why they brought him back anyway. Personally, from the looks of it I can tell he has a cool personality but he has no talent what so ever, so he would not be a big miss to the show. That is my 5 cents." Plugging a few positive words for her favorite idol contestant, Sammy Davis* said: "Now that Jermaine is gone, that moves Jessica one more step closer to becoming the next American Idol. I don't know what the big buzz is about, I think the focus should now be on the contestants that remain so go Jessica go." According to E online, after his elimination, Jermaine landed himself an interview with Showbiz Tonight and revealed that he had "no idea what was going on when he met with show producers." Speaking about his criminal past, he said: " I thought they were bringing it to my attention. Letting me know that now they are aware of, you know, this, that and the third. I didn't know what was going to happen, but." When asked about whether or not he feels Idol is "exploiting" this story for ratings, Jones right away tells viewers that he's not even trying to think about that or figure out why they did what they did. He insisted that he did complete all necessary protocol when applying to be on the show, the website stated. The top 10 are set to take to the American Idol stage this week performing songs by Billy Joel. Season 10's contestant Haley Renhart and American singer Lana Del Ray will also be performing this week. Remaining Top 10 Contestants: Heejun Han Erika Van Pelt Phillip Phillips Colton Dixon Jessica Sanchez Hollie Cavanagh Skylar Laine Elise Testone Joshua Ledet DeAndre Brackensick