Update – May 26, 2012: TMZ is reporting that Phillip will have his kidney reconstruction surgery on Tuesday. We wish Phillip a complete, and quick, recovery.

We knew it was bad, but we didn’t know it was this bad.

People Magazine is reporting that American Idol Season 11 Champion Phillip Phillips had eight operations during the season. The magazine says Phillip Sr. made the revelation Wednesday night after Phillip Jr. was crowned the new winner.

Phillip had issues with his health all season long. Back on March 8, Phillip was taken to the hospital for what was thought to be gallstones. It was later said to be kidney stones, something he apparently had been dealing with for a while.

But that hospital trip wouldn’t be the end of Phillip’s problems. His kidneys continued to give him problems all season long, eventually getting to the point where he couldn’t do the Ford Music Videos on Sundays because he simply needed more rest. There were also a couple of weeks where there was no group number because Phillip had been too ill to rehearse with everyone. And anyone watching the last two weeks of American Idol could tell that Phillip was almost completely spent by the end of each night.

Better yet, think about this: Many weeks, especially the latter ones, we saw a hurting Phillip deliver amazing performance after performance. Those performance were Phillip at a reduced level. What must this guy be like when he is 100%?

Phillip has one more surgery coming up to reconstruct his kidneys but is expected to make the Idols Live tour. The surgery will probably happen in the next week or two after the initial round of press stops. Read what Phillip Phillips, Sr., told People Magazine after the jump.

Imagine what Phillip Phillips could do if he were 100 percent healthy.

The American Idol winner dazzled viewers all season long, despite battling chronic kidney problems – and having eight separate surgeries – since the competition began, his father told PEOPLE Wednesday after an eventful finale.

“He’s been doing [well], but it’s just grueling hours and it’s just amazing what he’s done through the journey,” said the singer’s dad, also named Phillip Phillips, at the show’s official Ford-sponsored after party. “Eight operations since we started American Idol … He’s hitting 50 percent, but he’s still up there swinging away.”

Adding, “I was so proud I could cry” over his son’s win, the elder Phillips also said, “They’ve just seen a glimpse of what Phillip can do. We can’t wait to get him well and 100 percent and really see how he can perform.”

The younger Phillips, 21, suffered with a build up of kidney stones and underwent multiple operations to remove them. In the next few weeks, after another surgery to reconstruct his kidneys, he is expected to make a full recovery in time for the Idols Live tour.

“The recovery’s probably two to four weeks,” said his father. “He’s healthy, he’s good. His kidneys are good. I can’t wait for America and the whole world to see him [after his surgery], because he’s a big cut-up. He’s going to have some fun.”

The singer himself told reporters Wednesday that the problems were a struggle but that he had the support to get through them.

“I’m going to get some surgery done, so I’m going to get all better for the tour,” he said. “It was very tough [getting through the season]. I had great doctors and great people surrounding me [who] really helped out, so it’s just a blessing to be here.”

Wishing you a speedy, and complete, recovery, Phillip.

We’re not quite sure what the various contestants are saying, but we know you can figure it out. So leave a comment telling us what you think the contestants are saying.

Welcome to Duets, the latest competition show to hit the broadcast airwaves, this time on ABC. It stars Kelly Clarkson, Robin Thicke, Jennifer Nettles, and John Legend.

Little is known about how Duets will work outside of what little has been revealed in their commercials: each celebrity mentioned above will be looking for two people to sing with, hence the name of the show, Duets. What we don’t know is how they will go about looking for these people, how they will determine who they will end up singing with, whether America will be voting, etc.

According to the show’s Wikipedia page:

Clarkson, Thicke, Legend, and Nettles will travel across America to find two singers each who will serve as their duet partners for the show. Each week, the mentor and one of their two duet partners will perform live in front of a studio audience.

At the end of the competition, the winning singer will win a recording contract with Hollywood Records.

Join me after the jump as I live blog tonight’s premiere episode and chat with other Duets fans during the show in our Shoutbox.

Tonight’s premiere episode of Duets gets started with the four coaches singing together on stage. No announcement or anything; just straight into singing. Kelly Clarkson starts it off, shortly followed by Robin Thicke. The second verse sees Jennifer Nettles come out followed by John Legend. The four sound really good together. Robin is the most pretentious of the group, in my opinion, but it’s nowhere near the level that we see on some of the other shows. At least not yet.

Host Quddus, who is a Canadian MTV VJ and former host of Total Request Live takes the stage to introduce the show. He then takes us back to before the premiere to see how the show began.

We don’t really get to see the process of the four judges, or maybe we should just call them the four celebrities, finding the two people that will sing with them all season. And we’re really not going to see that part. It might be interspersed throughout the season, but it mostly happened off screen and won’t be seen. No bad auditions. No good auditions. Just the two contestants each celebrity has picked.

You can find out about the eight contestants over on Duets ABC official site.

Jennifer Nettles

We start tonight with country star Jennifer Nettles. She says she had to watch the audition submissions while conducting her latest tour. She then picked out those she likes the best to meet her while she is touring to audition with her.

The two duet partners Jennifer settled on were J Rome and John Glosson.

Jennifer Nettles & J Rome

The first to take the stage on the show together are Jennifer Nettles & J Rome. No introduction of the name of the song, which is something that really bugs me on these shows. Let us know the name of the song that is being sung. Anyway, J Rome is being overpowered by Jennifer, but that’s probably to be expected so early in the competition. Something that is really bothering me right now is that Jennifer and J Rome are looking at each other nonstop while singing instead of looking out at the audience as well. They do finally break away from each other, but it doesn’t last long. Okay, just how may “oh oh oh oh wahs” can this song have? Geez. Give us some words. Still, it’s a decent duet and Jennifer certainly has some pipes on her.

Quddus tells us that J Rome recently had his tonsils taken out and that doing so almost took his life, which J Rom expounds on.

Here is how the scores work. The three Superstars (the correct name for the celebrities) will rank the performance on a scale of 0 – 100. Kelly says the duet partners sounded so great. Robin says he doesn’t like J Rome already because he’s handsome and talented (he’s just kidding, sort of). John says J Rome sounded like a Superstar.

J Rome moves up to the #1 spot of the night since, after all, he was the first to sing. We don’t see the scores that the other Superstars gave them.

John Legend

John Legend is up next to find his duet partner. He says there are 7 billion voices out there, but only a few can be his partner. He holds his auditions in the Duets studio. When all is said and done, he ends up picking Bridget Carrington and Johnny Gray. John ended up picking up Johnny despite some initial concerns about him having a weak voice and doing too many riffs.

John Legend & Johnny Gray

Taking the stage singing “Ordinary People” are John Legend & Johnny Gray. John is playing the piano for the song while Johnny stands at the other end of it to sing to the audience. This song is a ballad, but it’s not stopping Johnny from sweating up a storm out there. I think it’s appropriate that this ballad was all about taking things slow. Quddus wipes away all of Johnny’s sweat when things are done. It was a very good, soulful performance. The other Superstars seem to love it as well, with Kelly Clarkson saying that the soulful sound looked sexy on Johnny.

After the Superstars scores, Johnny position on the chart is 2nd Place.

Quddus tells us that nobody will be voted off tonight. Instead, they will have two weeks to prove themselves. So now we have an idea of what is going on.

Robin Thicke

Next up to look for his duet partner is Robin Thicke. I use to not be a fan of Robin, finding his singing voice to be very grating. But it seems like he has come a long way since I last heard him a few years ago. He ends up picking Alexis Foster and Olivia Chisholm.

Robin Thicke & Olivia Chisholm

Performing “Lost Without You” is Robin Thicke & Olivia Chisholm. Uh-oh. Robin starts off in his falsetto, which is what I found irritating about him all those years ago. Robin and Olivia are trying to be sexy with each other while singing, and it doesn’t work. To make matters worse, the song is asking for stronger voices than either Robin or Olivia is giving us. They are singing extremely restrained, but it’s just causing the music to overpower them. They also sound very breathy as a result of trying to sing too restrained. John thought it was sexy but thought Olivia could get into it more. Jennifer thinks Olivia’s voice is authentic in this genre. Kelly also thinks Olivia sounded sexy. Not sure we were listening to the same song.

After the Superstars vote, Olivia is in third place, which means J Rome is still in first.

Kelly Clarkson

Next to conduct a search for her duet partners is Kelly Clarkson. She says that she was on tour during auditions and that it was incredibly tough to get with people. She ends up picking Jason Farol and Jordan Meredith. Jason’s final audition came on stage with Kelly in San Diego in front of 6,000 people.

Kelly Clarkson & Jason Farol

Singing “Breaking Your Own Heart” is Kelly Clarkson and Jason Farol. Jason gets off to a very rough start, singing in a sort-of falsetto voice that causes him to miss some of the first notes. Considering the tryout we saw them do on Kelly’s tour, I wasn’t expecting such a slow song. I really thought this would be more of a rock song, at least a bubblegum pop song. The audience seems to like this, though, as they cheer during an even slower part of the song while Robin seems like he is not sure what he is watching. Jason ends on an equally bad note, which is a shame because I thought he would be one of my favorites tonight. Quddus tells Jason that he was nervous but that it didn’t show. So then how the heck did Quddus know he was nervous? The judges fall all over themselves with praise for Jason.

After the Superstars scoring, Jason is in fourth place in the rankings. So far, no contestant has passed up any other contestant once voted. It would be interesting to know if the scores are very close to each other or very far apart, especially since Jason was praised nonstop and Olivia was given at least some criticism.

John Legend & Bridget Carrington

The second-half begins with John picking Bridget Carrington as his second duet partner. Bridget says she is 34 and has been doing this for a while. She also indicates that she hasn’t paid her taxes, though not sure exactly why she hasn’t paid them. They are singing “Tonight (Best You Ever Had). John starts out on the piano, but the lyrics in the song require him to be up and interacting as sexily with Bridget as possible. I really don’t care for the suggestive lyrics of this song, with the word “suggestive” really meaning “all out frontal nudity of lyrics.” Robin says he feels like going to a club now while Jennifer says she wants to go home to her man right now. Kelly now wants to do a duet with John.

After the Superstars scoring, Bridget overtakes Jason for fourth place.

Jennifer Nettles & John Glosson

Jennifer Nettles searches for her second duet partner now, which we already know is John Glosson. She is at some function where she is being awarded Alumnus of the Year. She performs at the function and invites the current group of the organization to sing on stage with her. She says this makes her realize she needs to look in her own back yard. So she invites the people in the group to come up to her hotel room to audition. Jennifer’s nanny told her that John sings in her church. I’m already not a fan of John’s. Too over the top. Jennifer, however, loved it, and that’s that. *sigh*

Jennifer and John are singing “Stay.” Jennifer starts the song out on one side of the stage while John is on the other side and gets the second verse. John isn’t going overboard with his performance right now and has an amazing voice, much better than I thought it would be based on the bits and pieces I had heard of him before tonight. In fact, Jennifer is the one over-emoting right now in this song. She is trying too hard while John seems to have the perfect feel for this song. I also just realized that Jennifer looks like she is directing them both while out there on stage. That sort of makes it seem like he wasn’t sure how to do the song. Kelly is seen crying at the end of the performance. John says the two blended so well together.

After the Superstar’s scoring, John Glosson jumps all the way up to number 3.

Robin Thicke & Alexis Foster

Robin is now looking for his final duet partner, who he wants to be a gospel singer. Of course, we know he ends up with Alexis Foster. Robin likes Alexis from the start and thinks her tone can match well with his own. Jasmine is the competition at this point and, according to Robin, has an adorable personality. Robin says he gets with his heart to decide between the two.

Robin and Alexis sing “Magic.” This is the Robin that I like to listen to. It’s a strong vocal from both of them on a song that is strong as well. Unfortunately, Alexis doesn’t look natural up there on stage. There is no chemistry between her and Robin, and she spends the entire time looking like a deer caught in the headlights. As the song goes on, Alexis becomes more and more uncomfortable up on stage, making us feel more and more uncomfortable watching them. The judges look very nonplussed, but Kelly starts by only giving compliments. John follows suit. Jennifer makes it a perfect hypocritical trio.

Wow. After the Superstars scoring, Alexis makes it all the way up to third place. Really? *headplant*

Kelly Clarkson & Jordan Meredith

Kelly Clarkson goes looking for her final duet partner, who we already know is Jordan Meredith. We see Kelly going through several people whose voice, she says, is like a knife in her ear (at least, that’s what I heard considering Alexis’ performance is still sticking like a knife in my ear). Jordan has red & pink hair, except for the part that is shaved off. Jordan also says she is a huge, obsessed fan of Kelly’s and is extremely nervous. She even breaks out in tears when talking to the camera. Kelly takes her choices to Bloomberg Cafe in Nashville to test them out in front of an audience. In that audition, it seemed like Kelly and Jordan pushed each other a little over the top, so we’ll see what happens.

Kelly and Jordan are singing, but no mention of the name of the song. They are on opposite sides of the stage facing each other. The song is “Stronger.” Robin is on his feet duringhe performance, and I can see why. Unlike at the cafe, Jordan and Kelly have found that perfect spot where they amplify each other and push each other without going over the top. It’s the best performance of the night by far, which may also be because it was one of the only upbeat performances of the night. John and Jennifer says they liked it and found it difficult to tell the two apart at times (which is a good thing according to them).

We’ll find out after the commercial how Jordan places in tonight’s Rankings.

Here we go. After the Superstar scoring, Jordan Meredith is in seventh place. This puts both of Kelly Clarkson’s duet partners at the bottom of the charts. The scoring also seems very disingenuous without knowing the actual scores, especially considering the rave reviews Jordan got for her performance.

So what did you think of tonight’s show? Do you think this show is any good? Let us know by voting in our poll above and leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

FOX’s summer dance competition, So You Think You Can Dance returns for its ninth season tonight as judges Nigel Lythoe, Mary Murphy, and host Cat Deely head to both Dallas and New York to find the best dancer the country has to offer.

There are some changes this year to the show. The first big change is that the separate results show has been cancelled. According to the show’s Wikipedia page, in a recent interview “Lythgoe hinted at a format where each week’s episode is ended with the revelation of the bottom three couples (based on the votes from the previous week) but after all dancers had performed the new week’s routines, given the judges an additional routine to take into account when deciding which dancers (from amongst the bottom 3 couples) to save and which to send home for that week.”

The other big change of the season is the one that Lythgoe announced in a conference call last Friday: There will be both a male and a female winner this year.

Join me after the jump as I live blog tonight’s auditions and chat with other So You Think You Can Dance fans during the show in our Shoutbox.

Well, hello! THIS…is American Idol! Whoa. Wait. That can’t be right. Oh, oh. I’ve got it! WELCOME…to So You THINK You Can Dance! It’s summer time and the confetti just fell over at Idol so that must mean one thing. Let’s DANCE! Yep. I’ll be covering SYTYCD this season because I’m a glutton for live blogging punishment. As you read above, things have changed this year. Come along with me, won’t you, as we find out what Old Uncle Nige has done to my favorite competition show. (After Idol, that is.)

The dramatic opening sequence begins. “All Year Long, your television has been dominated by singers. Isn’t it about time for a little DANCE?” Cat freakin’ Deely says the judges are looking for the best of the best once again this year. No matter where they are from, they’ve got to deliver on stage. If the preview clips are any indication, auditions are going to deliver some interesting moments as in years past.

The first audition city for Episode 1 of Season 9(!) is none other than the Big Apple. The city that never sleeps. New York. The crowd is huge and the jidges arrive. For this city, it’s Uncle Nige, Mary ‘Hot Tamale’ Murphy and Tyce Diorio.

Starting things off, it’s Amelia Lowe, an 18 year old contemporary dancer. She has the look of a 20′s flapper so they play it up and film her in black and white like a silent film. She hopes to stand out for the judges. And she does. Amelia gets a standing O from pretty much everyone in the theater. She’s straight to Vegas, baby! A great way to start the day, but will it last?

All the way from Japan is Toshihiko Nakazawa who is 26 and says he does a little bit of hip hop, a little bit of locking and a little bit of ballet. O RLY? His English is broken, his hair is Ronald McDonald red and he certainly entertains. He scoots around the floor, twirls across the stage, and pulls his leg up behind his head. I’m not sure he’s ready for the show, but Nigel was happy to watch him. Compared him to Twitch (what?) in that he was unpredictable. Tyce says he’s like a puppet. He goes to choreography.

Cat tells us the best is yet to come! Next is Austin Freeman (21) who is a cross between Sheldon from Big Bang and, well, Sheldon from Big Bang. He plans to do “The Wiggle.” What is the Wiggle? It’s Austin just kinda shaking his entire body without moving his feet. Austin’s plan for life is to be a celebrity. Then, he shares “Mr. Wiggles” with us all. Not THAT Mr. Wiggles. He left that in his pants. The judges laugh in an uncomfortable kind of way. Mary wants to see other men wiggle. It all made Tyce sad. Uncle Nige says no way in Hades.

New York is well represented at the, wait for it, NEW YORK auditions. Oh, Cat, you silly girl. We see several quick snippets of good auditions and we don’t get to meet any of them, except to see them get tickets to Vegas. But we do get to meet Shafeek (I can’t make these names up) Westbrook (22) who likes to flip. Over things. Over people. Over chairs. Over people in chairs. He crab walks across the stage, does some twisty hand stands, kind of half windmills and quite possibly has the strongest abs in all the land. Not sure this guy can do choreo, but he is most definitely entertaining, different and strong. The tattoo across his chest says, Mighty Mouse. The judges are impressed. Tyce says he moves like silk. Shafeek explains that his dance represents a friend he lost in 9/11. Straight to Vegas.

Day 1 solo auditions end and later that night, the first choreography round begins. Our Japanese friend finds it to be too much and quits. We don’t see much of the choreo round, but 10 more dancers got tickets to Vegas at the end of the night. We are not privy to who they are or anything, but I believe Cat when she says it is so.

It’s morning in New York and Day 2 of auditions begins. We meet Leo Reyes (21) whose mother attempted suicide. (Cue the moving music, Kieran!) She’s OK now, but it helped him learned to live life to the fullest. He wants to remind his mother why she should be here. He auditions in striped tube socks. That’s neither here nor there. Dude is good! Very expressive and very much able to tell a story with his body. (Awwww yeah. Look at me getting all dance critique-y all up in here, yo!) The crowd goes wild! Leo’s going to VEGAS! He cries and hugs all the jidges.

Lots and lots of very bad dancers show up to, um, wow the jidges. They cringe and make faces and lose their wills to live. But! Chehon Wespi-Tschopp (22) comes to save the day with his contemporary routine. All the way from Zurich, even. He is a tall drink of water full of strength and interesting lines and leaps. A smattering of standing Os. Uncle Nige and Mary Tamale act all nonchalant. Fakers. Tyce says he needs to go to Vegas and he does!

After Day 2 choreography round, 11 more dancers got tickets. In total, 48 contestants from the New York auditions are moving on to Vegas. After the break, auditions move to Texas, y’all.

The second audition city is Dallas, Texas. You know, where the Cowboys play football. (Just ask Alan. He’d love to tell you all about it.) Lil C joins Nige and Mare in Dallas. First up, we meet, Bree Hafen (29) a mom of two kids, Luke and Stella, from McKinney, TX. (Hey, there’s an Idol Radio Show affiliate there!) She’s one of those moms who completely loses herself after she has children. Nige calls the children to the jidges’ table and as mommy dances, Nige sends little Luke up to present her with a ticket to Vegas. She really is a beautiful dancer. Mary cries. Little bitty Stella dances around in her tutu. Lil C loses his shizz. Cutest moment on SYTYCD EVER. Also? Way too many parentheses in this paragraph.

The mood darkens Hampton “The Exorcist” Williams (21) and Stepheon “The Zombie” Stewart (21) are featured next and they are tres creepy. says his style is called Exorcist style. I think he made that up. Horror films influence his style. Zombie’s influences are cartoons, video games and his own imagination. Exorcist says he can take a person’s soul and crush up the spirit and it goes through his veins and when he gives it back, you will see life in a totally new light. I hope there’s a priest in the building or we might see Mary Tamale’s head spin!

Zombie is first to the stage and he does some creepy horror film crawling and I am truly surprised that he doesn’t crawl right up the walls. Strange yet entertaining. Mary cackles. Nige is confused and scared, but impressed. Lil C and his Urkel slash wannabe hipster glasses says , “Thank YOU!” Ticket to Vegas.

The Exorcist is next and he tells the judges he can take their pain and fear and when he’s done, they won’t have it “no more.” I, like Nigel, am scared. His style is sort of slow pop and lock mixed with a bad acting class. The judges give that a standing O and now I am convinced The Exorcist has actually possessed them all. Mary is crying. Crying. I think I missed something. She’s practically sobbing. Lil C says that sh** was buuucc. Nigel calls him a possible genius. He gets a ticket to Vegas. I remain confused.

Snippets of the good dancers getting tickets but we don’t get to meet them. Of course. 5 get tickets to Vegas and then after choreo, 5 more. Coming up? Day 2 in Dallas.

Here we go with Day 2 of auditions in Dallas. First up, is Daniel Baker (23) from Australia who now lives in San Francisco. When he was 7, his dad bought him a book about the US and he decided he wanted to move to America. So, of course he became a ballet dancer and got a Visa. (He totally sounded like he said belly dancer.) Dude is shirtless and quite the dancer body. Um, wow. Impressive dancing! Fast and furious and strong. Nigel says, “It was all right.” Mary says, “If you like that kind of thing.” C says, “Semi bucc.” Yes, kids, this nonchalant pretending to not like the good dancers because they TOTALLY LOVE THEM is this year’s schtick. *yawn*

A montage of awesome girl dancers, but who the heck knows who they might be. Not us, I can assure you. Then we meet Sam Shreffler (21) who is on the autism spectrum. He says he feels like a social wall flower. Bless his little heart. He says his style is lyrical freestyle. It’s quite spastic. Sam says dancing makes him feel free. Nigel tells him to never stop dancing, but it’s a no. The judges are a tad patronizing, as they tend to be with the “different” folks, but it’s a sweet moment and I want to hug Sam a lot. As he leaves, Sam lets us know what a great day it was because of his standing ovation. Bless his heart, again.

Halfway through Day 2 and Von Kipper (22) is rude in his interview with Cat. He says all this show does is crush people. He doesn’t want to audition.He doesn’t need a gimmick because he’s super dope without it. He comes on stage and acts a fool, mouthing off to Nigel and putting down other dancers, including sweet Sam Shreffler. The audience boos him. He’s erratic and flips around the stage but not in a good way. Lil C says he let his conversation with Nigel affect his dancing. Nigel says you can’t talk a good game if you’re not going to bring a good game. He goes on to tell Von that he has a bad attitude. And he does. It’s stupid and goes on too long. It’s an obvious no.

Jarell Rochelle (it rhymes!) is next up. He’s (22) and his mother is going blind. He wants to try out for SYTYCD while his mom can still see. Nige calls mom to come down closer so she can see her son. He warns her not to touch his water because it’s vodka. Tee hee, Nigel. Jarell dances beautifully and reminds me very much of Kupono from Season 5. Lil C says every millisecond touched him. Nigel said he was mesmerized. Mary says it was complete entertainment from beginning to end. Ticket to Vegas, sir!

And with that, Dallas solo auditions were over. After choreo round, 7 more got tickets to Vegas. Not sure of the overall total of tickets, there. I rewound twice and still didn’t hear it. Next week, auditions move to Los Angeles and we get Jessie Tyler Ferguson at the jidges’ table! Yay!

So what did you think of tonight’s show? Is it as good as you remembered? Let us know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

Something I did not know until just before the American Idol Season Finale last night was that both Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips tried out for America’s Got Talent in the past. I didn’t know when Jessica tried out, but Phillip tried out last season. Phillip never got past the producers, but Jessica did make it to Vegas during Season 1 of the show.

Unfortunately, none of Jessica’s performances on America’s Got Talent were seen on TV until Brandy, one of the judges, brought her back as one of her wild card picks. According to Brandy, which you will see in the video after the jump, she brought Jessica back specifically because none of her performances had been seen so far and she felt Jessica deserved to be heard.

Watch Jessica’s America’s Got Talent wild card performance after the jump.

Can you believe Jessica Sanchez was only 11 back then? Sir Darryl played her performance on the Idol Radio Show last night, and if he hadn’t told me she was 11, I would have sworn it was a performance from last week.

Even back then, Jessica dressed up beyond her years. Granted, it was age appropriate. What I mean is that even back then, she dressed up. She has never been one to dress like you would expect a teenager to dress, or like a tween to dress back then.

But what gets me the most about this performance is that Jessica seems to have been more confident about her singing back then. As strong as Jessica’s voice is, there were times during her American Idol run where I felt she was holding back or, worse, putting on a persona of someone, or something, she’s not.

Yet there was none of that with her America’s Got Talent performance. She had confidence and came across as very natural. This is the Jessica Sanchez I would have loved to have seen all season long on Idol. This is the Jessica Sanchez that could really have given Phillip Phillips a run for the Idol crown, possibly even managing to overtake him and win the entire thing.

So what do you think of Jessica Sanchez’s America’s Got Talent Wild Card performance? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

It’s the end of the American Idol season as a new winner has been crowned. But the Idol Radio Show antics keep going as Sir Darryl, for some reason, decides to repeatedly call the Token White Guy by a different name. Tidus calls in to give his opinion about another white guy winning the competition and mentions Jessica Sanchez’s time on the first season of America’s Got Talent (the video will be posted on the website on Friday morning). Zip calls in to thank Alan for telling him that the Joshua Ledet and Fantasia duet would be the wrong time to go make a sandwich. Queen Angie and the Sometimes Genius ChuckRitt joins the guys to talk about the new American Idol winner, but not before Alan completely spoils how the TV series House ended Monday night. The foursome has a discussion about whether this was the best season of Idol ever, Ryan not dragging out the naming of the winner, Phillip Phillips crying as his song went on, and Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo getting engaged.

The IRS personalities get one point for each correct Bottom 3 pick (text in blue) plus one point for each correct Bottom 3 order placement (yellow highlight). Most weeks, points for Bottom 3 placement will only be given for correctly picking who will be going home. But if Ryan Seacrest announces the order of the other two Bottom 3 contestants, then points will be given for correct placement.

The results for this week are posted below.

This Week (4 points possible)

1. Alan, Angie, Darryl, & Slim – 4 points (100%)
2.  
3.  
4.  
5. Chuck- 0 points (0%)

Season-to-Date (45 points possible)

1. Angie – 28 points (62.22%)
2. Alan – 25 points (55.56%)
3. Darryl – 24 points (53.33%)
4. DJSlim – 22 points (48.89%)
5. ChuckRitt – 20 points (44.44%)

So how did you do this week? Did you pick the correct Bottom 3? Did you pick the right person going home? Let us know in the comments below.

This is it. No more chances. No more posting of phone numbers. No more voting. The American Idol Top 2 have done everything they can to get you to vote for them. All they can do now is wait. And sing. After all, tonight is the big Season Finale. And whenever there is a Season Finale on American Idol, there is a lot of singing.

Join me after the jump as I live blog tonight’s results, and chat with other American Idol fans during the show in our Shoutbox.

And don’t forget to join Sir Darryl and me for the Idol Radio Show tonight at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as we talk about tonight’s American Idol results, along with any The Voice, America’s Got Talent, The X Factor, and entertainment news that needs to be discussed. Simply click the “Listen Live” banner in the right column when the show starts.

NOTE: Queen Angie will also be doing a live blog on tonight’s American Idol over at our sister site, IdolBlogLive.com. Check it out for another viewpoint of tonight’s show.

Here we go. Tonight’s marathon of a show is beginning. The graphics on the show says that their journeys may have started in a similar manner, but they will end very differently. In other words, one of the contestants will be crying with joy and the other one will just be crying. Maybe that’s not ending so differently after all.

Once the opening credits finish rolling, we see the Top 12, minus the Top 2, dressed all in white on stage singing. No announcement or anything. Just straight into singing. They are singing Slade’s “Run Runaway.” Joshua Ledet tries to do a dance move but can’t keep his footing and falls down in from of Sir Darryl’s beloved Andre Brackensick.

Now there are four dancers on stage dressed in black dancing to the band’s beat. This may be a tie-in with FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, which has its Season 9 Premiere tomorrow night (Queen Angie will be right here on IdolRadioShow.com live blogging the show).

With the song over, the announcer announces the judges, who walk down the stairs and between two lines of American Idol contestants. Ryan Seacrest then does the same.

Ryan asks the audience to shout out and hold up their signs on who they are rooting for. There are way more shouts and signs for Phillip Phillips. Ryan then says a record 132 million votes were recorded last night. We also know from an earlier tweet today that since Season 1, 5.5 billion votes have been cast.

Ryan brings out the Top 2, who are dressed in all white as well. Jessica looks smashing in her white dress. Phillip is about as dressed up as you will ever see him. In fact, his white shirt almost looks see-through, which means Queen Angie may be hyperventilating over on her live blog tonight. Somebody should check on her.

Phillip Phillips & John Fogerty

The next performance of the night belongs to Phillip Phillip, who is singing a duet with CCR’s lead singer, John Fogerty. Phillip is clearly on cloud nine singing this duet. For those who care, they are both WGWG – white guy’s with guitars. They are singing “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.” It’s a great duet.

The two next sing “Bad Moon Rising.” Phillip looks like he is ready to take flight at any moment, he is that happy right now. The audience is on their feet clapping along to the song. It’s so much fun watching John be John and Phillip be Phillip. Talk about a match made in Heaven.

Time for the first of what will be many video recaps tonight, this one going all the way back to the various auditions. Bad auditions, that is. Randy Jackson is breaking down laughing at one auditioner. A family member asks Ryan who he is, Ryan is lifted up by a group of people, and Steven Tyler wipes his nose on Ryan’s tie.

Joshua Ledet & Fantasia

Singing an Elton John song, Joshua Ledet takes the stage next. After a few bars, he brings out Season 3 winner Fantasia. A screechfest immediately ensues, with Fantasia steamrolling right over Joshua’s screeches. Is it just me, or does it look like Fantasia has had some work done on her face? I predicted earlier today that this would be a train wreck. They didn’t let me down.

Time for a video recap, this time of unseen moments of Jimmy Iovine accidentally repeatedly calling Jennifer the wrong name. He keeps saying Jessica. It’s quite funny. After the video, Ryan calls them Jimmifer.

Top 12 Girls

Time for the Top 12 girls, minus Jessica, to take the stage. It’s Blondefest 2012 on stage, brought to you by Clariol, as Erika Van Pelt has gone back to being blonde. That leaves Skylar as the only redhead of the bunch. Shannon Magrane looks like she has grown up about two years since she was evicted in 11th place. Jessica now joins the group on stage as Hollie leads off “I’m Every Woman.” Chaka Khan now joins the girls on stage. This is a mess. A hot mess, but a mess nonetheless. Did anyone see where I put my earplugs?

Now we get tonight’s Ford Music Video, which is a tribute to this season’s finalist. As is often the standard, it shows clips from the previous Music Videos and names each of the contestants. It named the contestants in the order they were eliminated. For the conspiracy theorists out there, they will have noticed that Phillip was named in the second spot and Jessica was named in the first spot.

Phillip’s and Jessica’s music mentors are in the audience tonight, and Phil and Jess give them the keys of their new Ford Escapes. Then Ryan gives Phil and Jess their own keys to their new cars.

Rhianna

Rhianna takes the stage next to sing her latest hit, “Where Have You Been.” I kind of wish they would rename the song, “Why Don’t You Stay There.” There is a lot of smoke on the stage and a strobe light coming out of a wall that she is hidden behind. Once the wall is lowered, we see a lot of green lasers surrounding Rhianna. And I’m done. See you all on the other side.

Skylar Laine & Reba McEntire

Time for the red-heads to take the stage, starting with Skylar Laine, who is singing “Turn on the Radio.” And in a moment that will likely make Sir Darryl’s head explode, Reba McEntire joins Skylar on stage. For as much as I haven’t liked Skylar all season, I am LOVING this duet. And not just because I know it will get under Darryl’s skin for me to say that. They are absolutely amazing together.

Time for “The World of Steven Tylor,” which Ryan says is his dressing room. There are a bevy of bunny girls in his room, then he asks for his sloth and is handed a real, slow moving sloth. Steven takes off the tail of one of the bunny’s tail and uses it to put makeup on Randy.

Jessica Sanchez

Jessica Sanchez takes on Whitney Houston again in a repeat of “I Will Always Love You.” Jessica was never afraid of taking on Whitney’s big songs, nor should she have been. She is more than capable to doing this songs and, if given a chance, could possibly one day outperform Whitney.

Top 12 Guys

Time for the Top 12 Guys to take the stage, starting with Colton Dixon as he leads off “Coming To America.” Heejun Han is next, unfortunately, to continue the song. The rest of the guys, minus Phillip, the joins the other two to finish out the song. DeAndre Brackensick leads off the second song of the group and manages to keep from going into his falsetto. Jeremy Rosado reminds us why he was the first one eliminated this season. Now the guys are singing the Monkees’ “I’m A Believer.” They were doing a good job until Joshua decided to join in the song. Needless to say, I’m no longer a believer.

The guys introduce Neil Diamond to the stage, who promptly half-sings and half-talks. He doesn’t sound good at all. Then it sounds like his microphone cuts out, not that anyone is complaining. Oops, his mic is back on. That’s my cue to go get me some water.

Now we get a look back at Randy Jackson over the years telling contestants that they “can sing the phone book.” AFter that montage, we get most of the Top 12 singing the phone book. They are all dressed in choir robes and they all have an actual phone book in front of them. They aren’t giving out real numbers, of course, but it is funny. And after a bit, they break out into full-blown church singing of the phone book, with Joshua deliberately going over the top as everyone looks on in exasperation. Skylar then deadpans tohe camera, “every time.” That was hilarious. After the song, Scotty McCreery gives Randy his very own phone book.

Jennifer Lopez

If you’ve been paying attention, you would have seen that Jennifer Lopez was missing from the judges’ table. This was to give the impression that she was about to sing live. She is singing two songs, “Going In” and “Follow The Leader.” I’m out of here once again.

Ace Young and Diana Degarmo, who are now a couple, are in the audience and Ryan brings them up on stage. They are living together now, and Ace wants to ask a question. Diana looks like she thinks this is a joke, but then is surprised when Ace gets down on one knee. Tears quickly come to her eyes as Ace pulls out a ring and asks her to marry him. She enthusiastically says yes and they kiss before he finally puts the ring on her finger. Ace is shaking as he puts the ring on her finger. Diana is speechless and she says her makeup is running. Ryan says his is as well.

Hollie Cavanagh & Jordin Sparks

Singing “You Will Never Walk Alone,” Hollie Cavanagh takes the stage. Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks joins her on stage to sing the song, followed by a large group of backup singers. That is fitting since this is a Broadway song. I wasn’t expecting this performance to be any good, but it is. Great, in fact. Hollie & Jordan are good together.

Top 12 Guys

Doing a tribute to Robin Gibb, who passed away over the weekend, the Top 12 Guys take the stage to do some Bee Gees hits. Okay, colored me impressed: Heejun Han just sounded great singing his part on the first Bee Gees song. Unfortunately, the first song was the only one worth listening too. The rest of the songs are really, really bad as they group can’t seem to find their harmonizing spots. Granted, this tribute was learned the last minute after Robin passed away, but I just can’t take anymore. Especially Joshua Ledet singing Bee Gees. Just so wrong on so many levels.

Jessica Sanchez and Jennifer Halliday

In a performance that I’ve been looking forward to all day, Jessica Sanchez takes the stage with Jennifer Halliday to sing “And I Am Telling You” as we get back to Screechfest 2012. But unlike Joshua’s and Fantasia’s disaster of a duet, this one works out very well. Jessica tries her best to keep up with Jennifer’s voice, but it’s just not gonna happen. Jennifer is one of the big voices to end all big voices, and Jessica just isn’t there yet. But it’s still an amazing duet.

Aerosmith

Finally, after two years, Steven Tyler’s band, Aerosmith, takes the American Idol stage. Joe Perry thinks he can still rock an unbuttoned shirt. I can’t hear a blessed word Steven is singing, which means that Aerosmith is back in their full form. Their first song is “Legendary Child” and their second song is a classic: “Walk This Way.” Love it! I’ll see you on the other side of this song cause I have to get up and dance.

Jessica Sanchez & Phillip Phillips

Our Top 2 are taking their final bow in the form of a duet to sing “Love Lift Us Up.” Phillip looks like he is in a tremendous amount of pain. I’m sure he’s had a very long week, and an even longer past two days. It’s a great duet, though.

Ryan calls the Top 2 to the stage. After a nationwide search of over 100,000 auditioners, it’s time to reveal who America has chosen to win Season 11.

The votes have been counted, certified, and handed to Ryan to reveal.

Dim the lights for the final time this season. The winner of American Idol Season 11 is…………..

Phillip Phillips

So what did you think of tonight’s show? Did America cut the correct person? Vote in our poll at the top of the post, then leave your thoughts in the comments below.

And don’t forget to join Sir Darryl and me for the Idol Radio Show tonight at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as we talk about tonight’s American Idol results, along with any The Voice, America’s Got Talent, The X Factor, and entertainment news that needs to be discussed. Simply click the “Listen Live” banner in the right column when the show starts.

The picks for this week are posted below.

Do you agree with our picks? Or do you think we’ve already taken off for the summer? Leave your thoughts, and your picks, in the comments below.

The New York City auditions continue tonight as Howard Stern, Sharon Osborne, Howie Mandel, and Nick Cannon continue to look for talent in Gotham. Last night saw a guy get his nuts smashed, the grandpa who invented rapping, and Howard Stern making a 7-year-old cry. Will tonight bring more of the same?

And don’t forget to join Sir Darryl and me for the Idol Radio Show this Wednesday at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as we talk about this week’s America’s Got Talent auditions as well as this week’s American Idol performances, along with any The Voice, The X Factor, and entertainment news that needs to be discussed.

Host Nick Cannon starts day 2 of New York City’s auditions in a helicopter flying around the Statue of Liberty. The announcer announces Nick, who then announces each of the judges. Sharon says today’s crowd is over-the-top, so much better than yesterday’s crowd. Howard introduces his parents to everyone, then proceeds to roast them on national TV.

Ronald Charles

First up tonight is 23-year-old singer-dancer-performer, Ronald Charles. He is wearing pastel blue pants and blue gloves and a blue shirt. I don’t even know what to make of his dancing, as there is no substance at all to it. He is quickly buzzed by one of the judges, and as soon as he starts singing, he is buzzed by the other two judges. Even Howard’s father says it was no good. Howard takes his father up on stage to have him tell the guy, “don’t be stupid, you moron.”

Now we get more bad acts, starting with a roller skating couple who can’t really roller skate dance. Now it’s a large mime group doing a performance called “Lost in the Jungle.” It’s lost alright. Now we have some guy in a very weird yellow and black shirt with a pink guitar who can’t sing or play and is upset because he never got to the second verse.

(missed his name)

Next up is (missed his name), a 49-year-old comedian ventriloquist. He says one night he is at a Bar Mitzvah and the next night he is opening for strippers. His schtick is a video screen with Howie Mandel on it, whose eyes and mouth exaggeratedly move as he speaks the words. He then moves on to Sharon and Howard. His final image is the love child between Howie Mandel and Howard Stern who looks like a guy but is really a girl. The judges love him and send him through to Vegas.

Donovan & Rebecca

Now 44- & 36 -year-old acrobats and aerialists, Donovan & Rebecca, takes the stage to try and wow the judges. They have been married for 14 years. They are both wearing white spandex with the mid section cut out on her. She is clearly very strong and has a six-pack. In fact, she is strong enough to lift him up during the routine even though he weighs 200 pounds of pure muscle. The judges love it and send them through.

Tom Cotter

Tom Cotter, a 48-year-old stand-up comic, takes the stage next. He says he thinks he’s just flown below the radar so far. He also says he has a wife and three-small boys at home to feed. He thinks his act is so different that this will be his year. He starts by saying he’s the youngest of his family and was beaten up by the two oldest of the house, his mom and dad. He then riffs on the Girl Scouts, calling them the Green Berets. He was caught shoplifting a Buick once, only to have his dad tell him through the bars of the cell next to him that he is no son of his (to which his mom wondered how he knew). Stand-up comics often don’t do too well in this competition, but Tom was pretty funny. He’s going to get a chance to do it again in Vegas, so we’ll see if he has more material.

Stepz

Next up tonight is Stepz, a 22-year-old dancer. He says that when he was six, his parents were drug addicts and were in gangs, ending with his mom pushing him out the door in favor or drugs. He says his mom just recently got clean, however, and he is very proud of her. Stepz says he is an animation specialist, bringing everything around him to life. He is an amazing dancer who can do many different styles, including hip-hop, crunk, contemporary, not to mention being a contortionist. It’s a fun routine, but Howard doesn’t think there is an audience for what he does (really? REALLY?). Howie completely disagrees. Sharon does ask if he will fill arenas all over the world with this type of act. Howie says yes. Howard says no. Sharon says he is going to have to go to Vegas.

The Savage Men

The final audition of the night belongs to The Savage Men, a group of four muscled men wearing army pants and black tank-tops. Nick says they smell like they have baby oil on them, and the look like they do as well. They are dancing, raunchily, to LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It.” Howard and Sharon waste little time buzzing them, and the audience doesn’t much care for them either. They guys rip off their t-shirts, which for some reason doesn’t prompt Howie to buzz them. And there is only one way for them to go, which is to drop their pants at the end of the routine. Thankfully they pull them back up when they are done. Unfortunately, Stern then gets up on stage to dance like a stripper. Somebody buzz him, please. Anyway, The Savage Men are not going to Vegas on America’s Got Talent dime.

So what did you think of tonight’s show? Do you think NBC and America’s Got Talent made the right choice in hiring Howard Stern as a judge? Let us know by voting in our poll above and leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

And don’t forget to join Sir Darryl and me for the Idol Radio Show this Wednesday at 11 PM ET / 10 PM CT as we talk about this week’s America’s Got Talent auditions as well as this week’s American Idol performances, along with any The Voice, The X Factor, and entertainment news that needs to be discussed.