Episode in and episode out, we found ourselves digging for theories on how the American voters’ minds work? What makes a contestant move to next round and what makes one leave?

In the last booting–out episode, for instance, we felt for "The Comeback Kid" (as Paula Abdul dubbed him) Nikko Smith who turned out to be the least liked by America this week. Nikko belonged to our bracket of strong bets, so did Jessica Sierra who bid the show adieu the previous week. It’s a bit disappointing that’s the last we’ have seen of them on "Idol."

Just what did the likes of Nikko and Jessica do wrong and what do Scott Savol and Anthony Federov (two of our least favorites) keep doing right when bad performances have caught up with them week after week after week?

When the finalists were downsized to 12, it seemed like a healthy mix of personalities with different degrees of talent in them: Soul power in Anwar Robinson, Nikko Smith and Vonzell Solomon; rock acts in Constantine Maroulis, Bo Bice and Nadia Turner; ballad pop in Anthony Federov and Scott Savol; country queens in Jessica Sierra, Lindsey Cardinale and Carrie Underwood. And, oh, there’s Mikalah Gordon for whom we have ran out of genres to out her in. As each week saw a contestant ruled out by the voting system, expected goodbyes (Lindsey and Mikalah) and unexpected farewells (Nikko and Jessica) happened.

AND THEN THERE ARE EIGHT...

Anwar, Anthony, Constantine, Carrie, Nadia, Bo and part of this week’s bottom three are Vonzell and Scott. These eight have survived.

When Nikko was voted off last Thursday, our phone exploded with exasperated/flabbergasted messages. Not that they were rooting for Nikko but they simply hated, despised and loathed the staying power of Anthony and/or Scott.

No, it had nothing to do with Scott’s case of wife beating. Our anti–Anthony/Scott friends gauge their contestant picks on a purely performance basis. There are just better ‘Idol’ performers (again in Jessica or Nikko) who deserve more weeks and airtime than Anthony and Scott.

As the number of the survivors dwindle, the more theories we arrive at on what America is really looking for. Do they trust Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and especially Simon Cowell’s sense of judgment? Or is it a matter of having decided on an ‘idol’ they’ve supported from the start? How do the weekly performances change the landscape of their chances? How does one theme night affect the following day’s results?

Decoding what America wants led us to the following observations:

• More than the performance, it’s the performer. The judges and the contestants meet halfway but it’s basically the solid fan base at the end of the show that decides on the outcome. How else do you explain Anthony and Scott’s stay? Reportedly,those who vote for Anthony may be the same people who catapulted second season American Idol runner up Caly Aiken to fame. Not only do Anthony and Clay have the same vocal styles, they both sport the endearing nerdy image.

• America listens to Simon with one ear. Voters do listen to Simon but not entirely. In the first few weeks, whose performance Simon crushes most likely finds him or herself in the least favorite league the following day.

• America listens to their chosen Idol. And they refuse to hear anything from there. So when Anthony and Scott were pronounced crooners of the season, there they stayed.

• They want to feeeeeel stage appeal. Constantine and Bo, need we say more. (By the way, the rockers have yet to brush elbows with the bottom three.)

• America feels for the underdog. Calling Anthony and Scott back (Sorry, not that they are the barometers of the unworthy but... they really are). After all, in the surviving eight, they received the most bickering from Simon, "alright, alright" comments from Randy Jackson and hardly any standing ovations from Paula (which she gives two–thirds of the performances shows that we wonder if there’s anything wrong with her chair or something).

• Song choice. This is one of the perennial reasons that makes or breaks a contestant. It’s been there since they were 24. Song choice is almost everything. We still have to see if Carrie Underwood withstands the risk of the wrong–song–choice because evidently, the judges felt there were tons of other better Broadway songs for her than "Hello Young Lovers" from the musical "The King And I."

• Idol rumors. Anwar (who Paula crowned the best technical vocalist) landed in the bottom three last week (with Nadia and Jessica) about the same time the word spread about his real sexual preference. Internet prints have been circulating that the Jersey school teacher logged–in on some gay (AfterElton.com and BlackPlanet.com) websites. Of course, his outfit (of feminine scarf accent) did not help hush the gay rumors. Also, Scott is in the bottom three for the first time following the wife beating reports dug out from his past.