Rachel Crow upon finding out she was eliminated from "The X Factor"
*Err’body went into the ugly cry on last night’s “X Factor” elimination show during the exit of 13-year-old Rachel Crow.
The spunky favorite found herself in the bottom two for the first time this season and belted out a surprisingly, gut-wrenching version of Etta James’ classic “I’d Rather Go Blind.” Marcus Canty, a two-time veteran of the bottom two, delivered an emotional “I’m Going Down” as his “save me” song, leaving the judges in a quandary as to who would go home. [Watch both performances below.]
Canty’s coach LA Reid and Crow’s coach Simon Cowell each voted for their acts to stay. Paula Abdul voted to send Marcus home, so the fate of the two contestants was left up to Nicole Scherzinger. In anguish, she opted to deadlock the vote by sending Rachel home, which took the decision out of her hands and made the voting public the tiebreaker.
When host Steve Jones revealed that Crow received the least amount of votes from viewers and would be going home, she had a moment of shock, then, collapsed onto the stage in loud sobs. Cowell and Crow’s mom tried to console her, to no avail. At one point, cameras caught Crow wailing, “Mommy, you promised me! You promised me!” Her mother responded calmly, “I promise you it’s okay.”
The sight of Crow hollering was too much for Nicole, who also began crying uncontrollably. Paula had to comfort her, for a change.
Paula comforts Nicole as the drama unfolds on the show
When the youngster was finally was able to get herself together, she told the crowd in her farewell speech: “I just love you so much. Everybody, for voting for me even though you didn’t, thank you for giving me this because without you I am nothing.”
Just before the credits started rolling, all of the judges and contestants were on stage – some hugging Crow, others trying to comfort a still-sobbing Nicole. When Jones passed the mic to Nicole for farewell comments, the audience booed her as she just turned away, unable to speak.
Rachel Crow, still in shock, finally calms down enough to speak
Cowell later defended Scherzinger’s actions, telling Us Weekly: “I think ironically what she was trying to do was let Marcus go with some dignity because she was attached to both of them. But there’s no question about it, if she thought Rachel would have been out she would have gone the other way.”
Crow doesn’t hold a grudge against Scherzinger, either. “She’s the nicest, sweetest, most beautiful person, inside and out. She was crying and she was so sad,” Rachel said. “It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just what God had in store for me and it’ll be okay.”
Watch the elimination and the two “save me” performances below:
They need to raise the age limit because this was just too embarrassing to watch on national tv. From Astro, Drew and now Rachel these young kids don’t know how to handle rejection and to make it worst they have to do it on national tv.
Hmmmm!! Call me a cynic but I think Rachel’s little meltdown was staged for dramatic effect, when she was in the bottom three she was asked about how she felt and she said she was fine either way the votes goes and then when she is eliminated she has a crying fit which she only shed one trear. I feel for her but come on now hte contestants have to understand that you can be voted off at any time. Anyway, Rachel is talented she will get a deal somewhere, rumor has it Disney is considering her which IMO would be a better fiit and have more AGE appropriate material. Nicole needs to be replace next season she is so useless and cannot make a decision to save her life. The show is too OVERPRODUCED and the judges taking swipes at each other is ridiculous.
correction – tear
I disagree that her crying was staged. She was visible upset and that doesn’t make good tv because many people are now saying that they need to raise the age limit. I do agree she would be better suited for Disney then a recording contact at this very moment. And Nicole didn’t do anything different than what Simon did when Marcus and Leroy were in the bottom. Leroy sung his Save Me song better than Marcus but Simon left it for America to decide and Nicole did the same thing and Rachel had less votes.
I disagree non-music101 and I agree with you babycakes. I believed her crying was staged. Rachel may be young and believe she was dissapointed, but I don’t believe she was really crying like a 2 year old. This fake reality shows will do anything for ratings and for the camera and Simon has to prove something post American Idol. Really XFactor is AI/America’s Got Talent and Dancing with the Stars combined. What bullshit!
I’m so tired of these boohooing children. Where are the parents who should have prepared their children for rejection and consequences? “No, baby, you’re not entitled to everything and you may not win.” “Oh, by the way, mommy shouldn’t have promised you that you would win.”
Even the contestants on American Next Top Model didn’t act this riduculously when asked to exit.
Sorry but I felt that Marcus should have never even been on the show.As far as the level of talent that he is up against he cannot sing.His voice is pitchy and he sounds like he cannot carry a tune in a bag that is just my opinion. Reid started this mess by telling him he reminded him of Bobby Brown and then the fans just went with it but I don’t remember Bobby Brown being able to sing all that well as far as I am concerned.Regardless I will be voting for two soilid hours for Melody! I thought that Rachel did a much better job than Marcus he should have been gone just juding on talent.My heart did go out to her and I think that she was really truly upset because she felt she did a better job but the votes did not support her.Guess Nicloe may be getting more death threats people really get into these shows WOW. I hope that Disney does have something for her! That would be great
I hope you don’t vote for Melody because there’s nobody in the competition by that name LOL!…..I think you mean Melanie.
I laughed a little bit. But she gone be alright. She’s young and got national exposure.