'American Idol' Season 11, Episode 18 Results Recap - '1 Voted Off'

The results are in, and the first finalist has been sent home. The results show was like most others: a slightly awkward group performance at the top, plus appearances from a former "Idol" contestant (Lauren Alaina was the lucky one tonight) and from a bigger star (this week's guest mentor Mary J. Blige).

But the voting was slightly different from usual. This time, the voting pitted the guys against the girls and we saw the bottom three chosen for each gender group.

The bottom three for the girls were:
-Shannon Magrane
-Elise Testone
-Erika Van Pelt

For the guys, the bottom three ended up being:
-Jeremy Rosado
-Jermaine Jones
-Joshua Ledet

The bottom three for the girls was no surprise. After all, Elise turned in a pretty lackluster performance and Shannon's song was probably the most criticized of the night. Erika performed fine, but isn't a very flashy singer (one of the reasons she's good, actually) and doesn't do much pandering, so she hasn't caught on with voters yet.

For the boys, things were mostly predictable but also a bit fishy. Rosado had to be saved to get here, and Jones had to be saved just to make it into the top 24, so voters might see them as unworthy of a spot going forward. But Ledet, who has done nothing but impress thus far? What's the story there? One has to wonder if all voters have become young, racist white girls who only choose country singers and the cute boys (provided their skin is the right color). Jones and Rosado were shaky. Ledet was anything but, and definitely does not deserve a spot in the bottom three.

Fortunately, Ledet didn't end up on the hot seat for the boys. Jeremy Rosado was the one with the fewest votes, and he was joined by Elise Testone.

Admittedly, I thought that Jeremy had a good shot of making it through: the judges, JLo in particular, have a soft spot for the kid, and I figured he would have a free pass as long as they had a say. But the judges knew that Elise gave one of her worst performances yet and is capable of a lot more, so they decided to keep her and send Jeremy packing.

Eliminated: Jeremy Rosado

Do you think the judges made the right choice? Is the voting stacked against minority singers? Let us know what you think of the finals' first eliminations in the comments.