Although she thrilled Mariah Carey singing “Forever,” Kristy Lee Cook apparently could thrill neither the judges, nor the viewers, so she got eliminated from American Idol.

The 24-year-old went back to Oregon, leaving six other contestants standing. And hoping.

While the Idols were waiting to see who was going to be kicked out, pop diva Mariah Carey made a wicked decision that somehow seemed perfectly suitable for the moment: to sing a song titled “Bye Bye” from her new album.

As if Mariah’s move was not enough, Ryan Seacrest started shuffling the contestants into groups, in an attempt to generate tons and tons of suspense for the awed viewers.

Seacrest first divided the contestants into two groups: Kristy Lee Cook, David Cook and Brooke White on one side and Syesha Mercado, Carly Smithson and Jason Castro on the other. Then, before everyone’s heart missed a beat, Ryan asked David Cook and Syesha to swap places, clearing the confusion and revealing who would actually be in Bottom Three: Kristy, Brooke and Syesha.

David Archuleta had the perfect occasion to prove he was not always angel-like, dropping in the middle of the stage and refusing to choose which side of the stage he believed to be the bottom three, and ruining Ryan’s little game. Eventually, Seacrest had no option than to ask all the contestants in the “safe” group to join Archuleta on the stage. Which was quite a problem for Carly, who had no idea how to sit down and wear a dress at the same time!

After Ryan granted Syesha immunity, Cowell predicted what was already obvious: that Kristy’s time was up.

Bringing attention again to the “sacrifice” Kristy had made to come to American Idol, by selling her favorite barrel horse so that she could travel to Philadelphia, Seacrest added: “To that guy out there, can she have her horse back?” “Sure, anything for Ryan Seacrest,” the horse’s buyer probably told himself that moment.

Cook managed to control her emotions, shedding just a few tears and even smiling while telling Ryan: “Hey, I made it past the top 10.” He courteously answered: “You have a lot to be proud of, darlin'!”

While singing her last song on the show, “Forever,” Kristy stood straight in front of the judges’ table, more exactly, in front of Simon Cowell, who kept grinning during the performance.

Season 5’s third place finisher Elliot Yamin also sang “Free” during the show.