Wild Card Giraud Saved a Second Time

Matt Giraud has been voted out twice by America. Twice, he has been saved by the American Idol judges.

The first time Giraud was saved by the judges was after he had been voted out during the preliminary elimination rounds. However, he was saved by the judges as one of their four wild card contestants. Anoop Desai, another wild card, was also among the lowest vote getters during this elimination round. The other two wild cards, Jasmine Murray and Megan Joy Corkrey, were eliminated earlier in the season.

This time, Giraud was saved by the judges as their one and only, "save" for the season.

Was saving Giraud the right decision? Does it really matter at this point, if you get voted off, or not?

Two of the most successful final ten Idol competitors did not win the contest: Jennifer Hudson, who came in 7th place during the third season, but who has since won a Grammy and an Oscar; and Chris Daughtry, who came in 4th place during the fifth season, but has made his mark in the serious rock circuit. It's apparent that once you arrive at the finals, you've already won for all intents and purposes. You've gotten the attention of producers, record companies, and most importantly, potential customers -- the CD buying, iTunes downloading, concert ticket buying public . It's up to you to now ride the wave of success.

Giraud will have another shot, but I think it's a moot point. America will continue to vote for their favorites and I doubt he'll make it through the next two rounds. Fortunately, record sales seem to have nothing to do with the voting and Giraud has a good shot at being successful if he puts out a good product.

Speaking of "making your mark," whatever happened to Nicole Tieri, also known as Scooter Girl? She was one of my absolute favorites who did not make it to the semifinals, along with Nick Mitchell (aka Norman), who was eliminated early in this season. Both would have made the show so much more interesting!