I’ve been wrong all season about who will stay and who will leave American Idol, so I’ll just climb out on a limb and flat out state that Syesha Mercado will get the axe this week.

I was thinking that I had gleaned the intentions of America’s voters last week. Syesha has been a weekly low vote getter and now she’s isolated in the final four, where there are three high vote getters. (Very scientifically precise terminology, I know.) She should have no problem being eliminated this week no matter how well she does on the stage.

This week is Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame week, which means the producers couldn’t find a “guest mentor” who was cheap enough or who wanted to promote a new album. So, there will be performances tomorrow night by a couple of fill-in acts: former Idol Bo Bice and Maroon 5. Otherwise, contestants will get to choose songs from the most overplayed famous songs in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, which means that we’ll probably get to see some “scenery” from The Mistake by the Lake. Big whoop!

This should be David Cook‘s night, being the premier rocker in the bunch. Look for another weak performance by Jason Castro. Those have come to be the norm for college dorm sing-along boy. David Archuleta, who can do no wrong by the pre-nubiles, will sing a couple of songs that will sound like every other song he has sung, and he’ll forget to obey Lord Lloyd-Weber about keeping his eyes open, yet he’ll get the most votes. Bringing up the rear (and it’s a mighty fine one), Syesha will sing her guts out but to no avail—her fan contingent is just too small, the demographic being males over 25, of which I think I’m the only one left. Alas, she’s gone before the first note is sung.

Sadly, Jason, who should have been gone weeks ago, threatens to become the Sanjaya of this year’s competition, and we’ll have to put up with him for yet another week. Then it will be down to the final two, which I hope will be Archuleta and Cook. But stranger things have happened. The folks who gave you Taylor Hicks might conspire to put Jason in the final.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

“Arizona’s home, but it ain’t mine no more…”, sobbed Brooke White as she tortuously performed her swan song on American Idol’s sadistic results show last night, in which the final two contestants waited about 45 minutes with their hearts in their throats to see who would stay and who would go. Syesha Mercado was the lucky one. Brookie got the boot.

The teenage popularity contest is in full swing. Jason Castro, who I characterized as singing as if at a college dorm BYOG (bring your own guitar) Friday night sing-along for losers who couldn’t get laid, was pronounced safe right off the bat. That was predictable. The voting public, consisting largely of the age 9 through 13 white female population, likes his cutesy dreadlocks, which would disqualify him from most real jobs. His songs were absolute crap, which even Simon could not adequately scorn in the time permitted.

David Archuleta, of course, was safe. He has an even larger base of prepubescent weenies than does Jason. When Ryan Seacrest asked British hottie guest singer Natasha Bedingfield if she would be Archuleta’s prom date, I thought I would puke. She could be my prom date; let’s not waste her on Speedy Gonzales. It is truly unfortunate that Archuleta remains the favorite to win the whole thing, as his high school musical singing is boring my ass to tears.

David Cook is the guy Paula Abdul and I want to win. I’ve always favored the rockers on this show, and I’ve always been disappointed. Could this be the year of the rocker? I thought surely Bo would beat Carrie a few years back, but that didn’t happen. I think the voting demographic might preclude it. (I still have no explanation for Taylor Hicks.)

Syesha Mercado, the last of the final four, no doubt will be leaving us next week, having been next-to-last in voting for the past two weeks. She’s hanging by a thread. That’s a pity, because she’s a helluva lot better and more entertaining than Jason Castro could ever be. She’s hot, too, and she’s just coming into her own musically. The past couple of weeks have seen a marked improvement in Syesha’s confidence and style. However, no matter what song she picks next week and no matter how well she performs it, Jason’s fan club will preclude her from moving on.