American Idol: Did One of the Final Four Go Home?

TV Watch

American Idol

By Steve Helling

04/25/2013 at 09:45 PM EDT

From left: Candice Glover, Angie Miller, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb

Michael Yarish/FOX

Twelve seasons into American Idol , things can sometimes get very predictable. Contestants will sing, judges will judge, America will vote and someone will go home. So at the beginning of Thursday's show, Ryan Seacrest teased the audience: "In just a bit," he said, "I will announce some shocking news that will affect the judges and turn the competition upside down."

After a group performance of Alicia Keys's "Girl on Fire" by the top four contestants (Amber Holcomb, Angie Miller, Candice Glover and Kree Harrison), the weekly segment sponsored by Ford, a surprise appearance by Drake (mostly for Candice's benefit), a performance by season 9 winner Lee DeWyze (his new single is "Silver Lining") and other filler, it was time for the twist to be announced. What would it be?

Seacrest split the finalists into two groups. Candice and Amber were on one side of the stage, Kree and Angie were on the other. To the displeasure of the audience, Seacrest announced that Candice and Amber were the bottom two. The judges also looked stumped.

"The person who could be leaving tonight is ... nobody!" Seacrest announced, explaining that the judges hadn't used their save up to this point, so all four women would go through to the next round. The votes for next week will be combined with this week's tally.

Not only was it not shocking, it wasn't unprecedented, either. In the final six of the show's sixth season, Jordin Sparks got the least amount of votes, and fought back tears until Seacrest announced that it was a non-elimination week.

But despite Thursday's anti-climactic finish, it's actually good news. This season boasts an exceptionally strong final four, and it'll be nice to see them perform again on next week's "then and now" show.