Haley Scarnato, an American Idol contestant often complimented more for her looks and skimpy fashion choices than her singing ability was kicked from the final eight on the show last night, proving that looks will only get you so far. To be fair, Haley Scarnato seemed like she had a sweet personality and had a few moments of strong singing, but, based on how much less clothing she wore week after week, if Haley had been around for a couple of more episodes, Scarnato would have been pants-less soon.

Of course, this means that Sanjaya Malakar, another American Idol contestant not very well known for their singing ability, is sticking around for another week. Making Howard Stern and votefortheworst.com fans ecstatic, Sanjaya Malakar didn't even finish in the bottom three after what was actually a pretty good performance of "Besame Mucho" on Tuesday night. Haley Scarnato was joined in the bottom three with the weekly inhabitant Phil Stacey and another contestant who has flirted with going home, Chris Richardson.

Jennifer Lopez helped the singers prepare for Latin night on Tuesday night and performed last night for her first Spanish-language album, which came out on March 27th. Akon also performed last night.

Back to sexy Scarnato, the singer who performed "Turn the Beat Around" on Tuesday night met with a somewhat rude comment from judge Simon Cowell who commented that, based on her short-shorts and blousy top, her strategy was to "Wear the least amount of clothes as possible." Haley Scarnato was clearly a little upset about the comment and the complete lack of a mention about her singing, something she had clearly worked hard on. America decided that Simon was right and that it was time for Haley to go home, as Scarnato became the 5th contestant eliminated from the top 12 of American Idol 6. There is some good news for fans of Haley Scarnato - making the top eight means that she'll be on tour with her fellow finalists this summer. Drop us a line and tell us what she's wearing.

The other two contestants in the bottom three included two takes on Santana tunes. Chris Richardson performed "Smooth" and Phil Stacey took on "Maria Maria." Hint to future contestants - don't try and tackles songs where the guitar work by the band is going to outshine your singing. Chris Richardson was sent back to safety first and you have to think that, unless he really outshines past performances, that Phil Stacey will finally go home next week. He's been near the bottom almost every week of the finals, somehow always finishing second-to-last.

Enough about the bad contestants, who looks like they could actually win American Idol 6? Well, Tuesday night's show was a lackluster one, with only one real standout, Blake Lewis' performance of "I Need to Know" (ironic when you think about the fact that J. Lo's husband, Marc Anthony, sang the song, so maybe Lopez was able to mentor better for a song she was more familiar with than others.) Simon Cowell called Blake Lewis' performance the best of the evening. Also doing well was favorite Melinda Doolittle with a below-average-for-her take on "Sway", LaKisha Jones, and Jordin Sparks. Lewis, Doolittle, Jones, and Sparks have to be the favorites for the top four, but past seasons of American Idol have always been full of surprises.

In interesting American Idol news, ratings for the show were down for the fifth week in a row. Now, the show still rocked the TV world with an average of 26.4 million over the two nights and viewer participation is actually up this year (which could be explained by the thousands of Howard Stern fans voting for Sanjaya Malakar without actually watching the show).

Next week features a country theme with mentoring from Martina McBride, a previous American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood's, favorite singer. Country week has often been a stumbling block for American Idol contestants, so next week should produce some interesting performances. If you believe the pattern, Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson should be most nervous about going home in seventh place, but, as we've seen with the rise of Sanjaya Malakar, anything is possible on American Idol.