American Idol: Another Finalist Eliminated, and Jimmy Iovine Scolds the Judges

The field of finalists was narrowed to eight on American IdolThursday, but before any of the results were read, mentor Jimmy Iovinehad some feedback of his own for the judges, whom he essentially said were being way too soft on the contestants at this stage in the competition.

"Some of the singers sang really well, some did not," Iovine said of Wednesday's show. "But it seemed like the judges were complimentary across the board. I really don't understand what's going on. ... What you can't do is coddle people. For example, 'You weren't as good as you were last week, but you were great.' What does that mean?"

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He's got a point — and while we're on the subject, props to Iovine for bringing up the bright yellow elephant in the room: Lazaro Arbos.

"This was easily the worst performance of the night," he said of Lazaro's take on "In My Life." "No matter how the audience votes tonight, this was at the bottom of the pile."

Yikes. But ... as much as we hate to say it, he's right. Iovine's feedback on some of the other performers? Paul Jolley: "not ready for prime time"; Angie Miller: "too dramatic." And one other point: "This whole thing about not knowing Beatles songs puts me off a little bit." Thank you, Jimmy! (We're looking at you, Burnell and Amber.)

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So, did America agree? In between performances from Idol alums Casey Abrams and Jessica Sanchez (featuring Ne-Yo), and a couple of group numbers, Ryan Seacrest trickled out the voting results. So without further ado ...

The Bottom Three: Paul Jolley, Devin Velez, Amber Holcomb. Randy Jackson said he was "shocked" that Amber was among the trio, and Nicki Minaj was similarly stunned. Of those three, it was Paul who had to sing for the judges' single save this season, and he chose to revisit one of his earlier numbers, Heart's "Alone."

But the judges withheld their save and opted to send Paul home.

What do you think? Are you disappointed to see Paul go? And were you surprised by the voting results? Weigh in below!

American Idol returns Wednesday at 8/7c.