American Idol UPDATE: Top Ten

Here is your top ten singers, America

Week One of American Idol proper was a massive wake-up call for the field leader, David Archuleta. His performance was wretched, he forgot the words, and his forced smile during the post-song judgement was obviously shielding a million tears. He no longer looks the shoo-in everyone thought he was. The competition has been thrown wide open. Or, in the words of Paula Abdul: "We can... erm... feel your... hearts... when you... give of yourself... the world..." And we're out of time.

The shouty woman's gone, kids, who will win?

Click here to place your bets

David Archuleta
The cherub faced boy wonder has already been tipped by Cowell to make the "top two", and when he sings, even maniac Paula Abdul stops trembling and muttering. That said, he made a pig's turd of week one of Beatles songs, singing something akin to Craig David doing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. But he pulled it back on week two with a totally gorgeous Long And Winding Road. Back in the driving seat.

Brooke White
Brooke is so pure that she has never even seen a swear word written down in faint pencil on the back of an envelope, which makes her hugely appealing to Americans who like to unwind with a little bible reading (ie. most of them). Unfortunately after three brilliant weeks in a row, she made a total happy-clappy hash of Here Comes The Sun. Plus her over-the-top "hey it's OKAY!" reaction to criticism suggested that under the smiles and skipping around, she might yet be a ruthless bitch. You go, girl!

Carly Smithson
Carly appears to have Amy Winehouse tattooed on her arm, and her Tina Turner version of Come Together damn near made Simon whimper. Unfortunately she ruined it in week two with a deep-voiced version of Blackbird, which she followed with a clumsily explained metaphor about how she is learning to fly, because she couldn't... and, um... something else. Simon wasn't impressed, and neither were the voters. She hit the bottom three, which could spell trouble.

Michael Johns
Australian Michael's problem is that while his blue-eyed soul voice is great, his song choices are so earnest and middle of the road, he might as well just sing your boring uncle's record collection - he is the only man not dreading Chris Rea week (should there ne one). His decision to sing A Day in The Life (essentially a duet) was absolutely ludicrous.

David Cook
The dark horse of the competition, David is making his mark by morphing gentle pop songs into the angry rants of a maniac, and Simon loves it. Or, at least, he did. David's Day Tripper was a little bit smug and "yeah, I'm AMAZING", but like last year's runner-up, Blake Lewis, he is cut from a different cloth. But is it a winning cloth? Still an interesting bet.

Jason Castro
Jason is either constantly pretending to be stoned, or appearing on a family programme out of his mind on drugs. It's hard to say which is worse. As things stand, he needs a massive performance, and this week, Michelle wasn't it.

Ramiele Malubay
Dinky little Ramiele benefits from being the size of a pea, but then singing like an overweight soul singer. Back in series one, fellow Filipino American Jasmine Trias scored a huge fanbase, which Ramiele may yet tap into. On the downside, her performances so far have been a little bit boring once you're over the "she's tiny!" hilarity of it all. Much work to do.

Syesha Mercado
A poor man's Whitney, Syesha has nothing to put her in the same bracket as former RnB winners Jordin Sparks (last year) or Fantasia Barrino (series three). She did a good version of Yesterday, but comes across a little bit too stage school to be a genuine contender. The public like their Idols less polished.

Chikezie Eze
Chikezie was brilliant in week one, but got a little carried away and thought he'd introduce a mouth organ into his act for week two. That could yet prove a costly mistake. Randy and Paula love him, Simon appears to find him a bit of a chore. He's now flirted with the exit a couple too many times.

Kristy Lee Cook
Her country version of Eight Days a Week was astonishingly bad, and You've Got To Hide Your Love Away wasn't much better. Even children - who notoriously like everything - were seen shaking their heads disapprovingly. She has absolutely no chance of winning.