Gina's exit keeps Malakar safe for another week

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The recent elimination round of “American Idol” resulted in Gina Glocksen, who hails from Naperville, Illinois, leaving the show, and giving Sanjay Malakar, the talk of "American Idol" fan sites and blogs, another chance to contend for the crown.

Glocksen, a pink-haired rocker, after becoming the latest victim to Malakar’s inexplicable popularity, kissed the show tearful goodbye Wednesday, trimming the number of “American Idol” finalists to eight.

After hearing the result, the show's resident rocker girl, Glocksen let out a sob however she managed to sing through her tears while performing on "Idol" for the last time. The result prompted tears from her fellow contestants and boos from the audience.

On Tuesday, the day before the elimination round, Judge Jackson said that Glocksen, with her red highlights and all-black outfits, gave a "nice, controlled performance" of the classic song "Smile."

“Thank you so much for letting me do this and get this far. I’ll be seeing you on tour,” she said, before lunching into her last competition of the night, ‘Smile’.

“You should be so proud of yourself, you have been so much fun,” host Ryan Seacrest said.

Born on July 4, 1984, Glocksen, the ninth-place finisher on the sixth season of American Idol, works as a dental assistant and also performs in a cover band.

Before this, in Season 5, Glocksen auditioned in Chicago and sang "The Power of Love," which advanced her to Hollywood. In the first round of Hollywood auditions, Glocksen, who has been singing since age seven, performed "If I Ever Fall In Love Again," but eventually eliminated on the final day of Hollywood auditions.

In Season 6, she had a third chance to audition in Memphis, and made it again to Hollywood. During Hollywood week, Glocksen sang the song "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, together with Perla Meneses, Jessica Gordon and Marisa Rhodes in group round. On the final day, she performed "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman." This time Glocksen made into the Top 24, and then onto the Top 9. She sang the Charlie Chaplin classic "Smile" that earned the fewest votes for her.

Coming from the family of singers, Malakar, the 17-year-old has been criticized for everything from his voice to his hair, and whose finalist status has defied shaky performances and criticism from the judges, has once again won his fans’ heart who voted with all their zeal to send him through.

Sanjaya auditioned for the show in Seattle, Washington, with his 19-year-old sister Shyamali.

Malakar wasn’t even among the bottom three vote-getters in this week’s competition. Haley Scarnato of San Antonio, Texas, and Phil Stacey from Florida had the next-lowest vote tallies in the phone voting, which drew about 33 million calls and text messages.

This week's survivors are Lakisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle, Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks, Phil Stacey, Chris Richardson, Haley Scarnato and of course Sanjaya Malakar.

‘American Idol’ began its first season in June 2002. It has originated from the UK reality program ‘Pop Idol’. Televised on FOX network, the show was started by Simon Fuller, manager of various pop bands such as spice girls and S Club 7.

The sixth season of American Idol that continues to rule the ratings with 26 million to 37 million viewers a telecast premiered on the FOX Broadcasting Network on January 16, 2007. The grand finale will be held in May. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson returned once again to judge the show, and Ryan Seacrest returned as host.

Bennett, 80, best known for his rendition of the ballad "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and a multiple Grammy award winner, appeared on Tuesday’s show, while Wednesday's program featured a performance by Michael Buble, who sang "Call Me Irresponsible."

Meanwhile, Sanjaya’s sister Shyamali, who also auditioned for “Idol” but didn’t make it, is the latest Internet sensation. The provocative pictures depicting the Seattle teen playing a guitar in the nude and a YouTube video of her cheering for her brother in a revealing T-shirt have been downloaded thousands of times.