Travis Tucker, Nikko Smith, Janay Castine & Amanda Avila

American Idol fans said goodbye last week to Amanda Avila, Janay Castine, Travis Tucker, along with the man with the red hat and talented genes, Nikko Smith.

While their exit was questionable, in comparison to some of the other Top Twelve contestants, host Ryan Seacrest announced that these four had received the fewest number of votes.

However, a twist of fate has brought one of America's favorites, Nikko Smith (aka Osbourne Earl Smith II), back into the competition.

Sadly, Mario Vasquez, one of the contestants who made it into The Top Twelve, has withdrawn from the competition on his own accord.

Pulling a "George Huff" on us, this year we get Town & Country Missouri's twenty-two year-old Nikko back.

Last season, one of America's favorite contestants, George Huff, was eliminated from the competition until another contestant had a run-in with the law and was asked to leave.

Fortunately, American Idol producers do not think that a contestant with a DUI deserves to be idol material, especially one who receives one in the middle of the competition.

As a result of Donnie Williams' fall, we got to see and hear Mr. Huff rise up and shine for a few more weeks.

While Huff didn't become the American Idol, he was the last guy left standing. He also left a longer, more lasting impression on thousands, if not millions of people.

In fact, according to Billboard.com, in November, Huff released My Christmas EP a five-track seasonal disc through Christian label Word Records.

A full-length non-holiday debut is due sometime this year.

The Son of The Wizard of Oz

As magical a move as the Wizard of Oz himself, the son of baseball Hall of Famer, Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals, returns to American Idol tomorrow.

Hopefully Nikko will come in as Mario's backup, and do at least as well as Huff did last year.

He's got some stiff competition with rockers Bo Bice, Constantine Maroulis, Anwar Robinson, Anthony Fedorov and Scott Savol, not to mention the women.

Mario dropped out citing he needed to take care of some personal issues with his family in New York.

Mario Vazquez

Mario said, "With 'Idol' being a live show, it just wouldn't have worked out schedule-wise."

The twenty-seven year-old, who was the first to make it to the Top Twelve, said:

I'm healthy, I'm fine.

It's just a personal family thing.

My family is my top priority.

However, Vazquez' mom, Ada, knew nothing of her son's decision. "I don't know his reasons," she told the New York Post. "But whatever they are, I respect him for it and will be very supportive."

Later, he told the Associated Press, "My gut and intuition told me it wasn't time to do this. I had to focus on some personal areas in my life with the little bit of privacy that I have."

He added, "I don't think it's by any means an end to my career. It's just things you need to take care of in life .... I will always be singing. This won't be the last you hear of Mario Vazquez."

More than 100 million phone and text message votes were cast last Monday and Tuesday night.

The Top Twelve were announced on Wednesday night, March 9th 2005. Over 100 million votes were cast.

Mario was not only one of the Top Twelve, he was called out by three of his competitors as one of the contestants most likely to win the competition.

Carrie Underwood, Anthony Fedorov and Nadia Turner all agreed that Mario would have been their choice. Mario will not be joining the three previous winners Kelly Clarkson or Ruben Studdard or Fantasia Barrino.

However, he has earned a lot of points for his commitment to his family and/or his own personal sanity.

American Idol IV Top Twenty-Four

Previously, we said goodbye to Sarah Mather, Melinda Lira, Jared Yates, Judd Harris, Joseph Murena, Aloha Mischeaux, Celena Rae and David Brown.

I would not be surprised if we hear again from a few of these top twenty-four contestants. The question I always ask my girls? I know you love David Brown's passion for singing or Aloha Mischeaux' look, but would you buy their cd?

The answer to the question regarding these two artists, at least from my seven and nine year-old, is "yes, I would buy their music."

The 2005 Sweet Sixteen

At the time of publication, 1,066,485 Idol fans had responded to a poll, which asked "If you could bring back one of the eliminated Top Sixteen finalists, who would you choose?"

The response before the poll closed:

Amanda Avila 50%
Janay Castine 7%
Nikko Smith 37%
Travis Tucker 5%

My vote added to Nikko's second place response.

Amanda was also a favorite in this household from the day she got a golden ticket to Hollywood -- after her audition in Las Vegas.

Travis Tucker, with his beautiful eyes and smooth moves, is also destined to make it in Hollywood. It is likely that singing, however, will be a back-up talent to performing.

Based on this poll, we might have expected to see Amanda back. However, Nikko and Amanda were not competing against one another. Nikko received more votes last week than Travis.

Perhaps, by being part of the "Sweet Sixteen" we will hear again from at least one of these aspiring artists.

Certainly, many did not expect to see Nikko back in the limelight so quickly.

But there are a lot of people in Missouri and around the nation cheering his name - just like they did for his dad when he was playing ball.

We applaud Mario's priorities, especially after hearing that a number of his competitors thought he had the best to chance to win it all.

And we congratulate Nikko for gettin' back into the game.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "keepin' the dream alive even after one door has been shut" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegant Living publisher

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~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegant Living publisher