Steve tells Simon, who knows it good and well, that it's up to him to either get rid of Marcus outright or vote to keep him and go do "deadlock." Simon says he likes them both; Marcus is edging ahead, but LeRoy did better tonight, so he's leaving it up to the public; he votes to send home LeRoy. That puts it in deadlock. Every light in the place goes briefly red like it's the Brady Bunch's darkroom as Steve explains that it's now down to which of the two of them got fewer votes last night and this will be going home now. And it's... LeRoy. Steve congratulates Marcus and sends him on his way, then turns to LeRoy to ask how he feels. LeRoy says he's okay, talking about what a great experience it was, and Nicole jumps up onstage to snatch the microphone and screech, "And he's amazing!" LeRoy gets his allotment of hugs from the judges and the other contestants in the picture-in-picture window during the video montage of his time on the show. After that, Steve asks Nicole for her reaction, and she's taking it pretty well, confident that LeRoy isn't done. Steve fishes LeRoy out of the herd for some final words, and LeRoy thanks everyone for the support. Steve tells us one of the final seven will win the five-million-dollar recording contract, and promises another double elimination next week, on their regular night. "At this stage, being brilliant isn't enough; you've gotta be amazing." So we have that to look forward to.

M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter, or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.