Paula didn't dub her s-YES-ha for nothing.

Indeed, the Contestant Most Likely to Ruin Your Chances in the Office Idol Pool, Syesha Mercado, is now just one week and about a million swing votes away from cracking the American Idol season 7 finals and, in the process, forcing the folks at 19 Entertainment to do something I suspect they never wanted (or thought they would have) to do — give the woman a record contract.

Tonight, in the aftermath of Tuesday's lackluster, poorly sound-mixed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame night, Syesha had to wait till the end of the episode to hear her fate but ultimately outlasted yet another early front-runner, dreadlocked troubadour Jason Castro, who appeared somewhat elated when Ryan Seacrest informed him that he was headed home.

In fact, by the end of Ruben Studdard's ''Celebrate Me Home'' — which, after nine weeks, is still making me wistful for Daughtry's ''Home,'' or even Daniel Powter's ''Bad Day'' — Jason admitted to being a little relieved, especially since he would have had to learn three more songs before next Tuesday's top-three performance show. ''I don't know what I would've done,'' he said with a chuckle, alluding to his prior comment that his inexperience had started to catch up with him, causing him to forget the lyrics of Bob Dylan's ''Mr. Tambourine Man.''

And though I was disappointed, perhaps even a little angry, after Jason seemingly threw in the towel on Tuesday, I have to admit I howled when he cheerfully recounted to Ryan that ''somebody told me I shot the tambourine man.'' After all, it was Jason's refreshing lack of camera readiness, his random, bewildered sound bites, that made me a fan in the first place. And let's not forget that for a guy who didn't get a second of significant airtime until week 1 of the semifinals, Jason exceeded expectations, leaving behind a pretty long list of memorable performances, including ''Daydream,'' ''I Just Want to Be Your Everything,'' ''Hallelujah,'' ''If I Fell,'' ''Travelin' Thru,'' ''Over the Rainbow,'' ''I Don't Wanna Cry,'' ''Memory'' (which I still contend was touching, and misunderstood by Simon and Randy), and ''Forever in Blue Jeans.''

Jason's exit package and onstage banter tonight further highlighted his goofy folkster charm: watching him duet on ''Since U Been Gone'' with Renaldo ''Brothers Forever'' Lapuz while waiting his turn to audition; succumb to the will of that crazed kissing bandit while arriving at the Beatles' Love show in Vegas; and, of course, nervously ask Ryan if he was planning to reveal the voting results just 30 minutes into tonight's telecast. (If only!)

NEXT: The possible spoiler

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