Twenty-five million votes were tallied up to create Thursday’s live show, but did all the results go as expected? American Idol watchers were treated to montages, recaps and four performances - and at the end of the night, half of the Top 12 was firmly in place.

Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey and Michael Sarver waited through the group performance (it was a song I’ve never heard before and didn’t at all like…the best I can say is that it was better than last week’s group) and tons of other filler before real results were featured.

Ryan Seacrest spent a few moments chatting with the current crop of competitors before getting down to business. When asked about his future, Nick Mitchell said, “I’m looking for employment, always.” Jesse Langseth finds selecting songs “awful” and “very hard.” Jeanine Vailes admitted that “less could have been more” with her performance.

But eventually, even the time for chitchatting was over.

Allison Iraheta was shunted off to one side of the stage. After a few drawn-out moments, Jesse Langseth and Matt Breitzke joined her there. Ryan asked Randy Jackson which of the three had made it through. The judge felt that it’s “gotta be one of these two girls,” adding he was “hoping it’s Allison.”

Randy got his wish, and Allison Iraheta became the first of group 2 to make it into the Top 12. She performed her song just as powerfully as she did the night before. “I am just so friggin’ happy right now!” She declared.

Megan Corkrey, whom the judges highly praised Wednesday, was brought front and center with Kris Allen, who I felt fell somewhere in the middle during the performance round. Matt Giraud and Jeanine Vailes then joined the pair. Paula Abdul said it was “between Matt and Kris and Megan,” so Ryan Seacrest sent Jeanine and then Matt back to their chairs.

When Seacrest announced that Kris Allen, and not Corkrey, had made it in Allen looked as shocked as I felt. “You got the stool, buddy,” Ryan cried, as Kris attempted to scoop his jaw back up. He performed and I still think it was the wrong song to pick, but he did better than he did on Tuesday even despite the excitement of the moment.

A somewhat boring Idol montage followed. An even more boring visit from Brooke White followed that. She was very much a judges’ favorite during her seventh season stint, and despite more than one public flub could do absolutely no wrong in their eyes. She was there to tout her iTunes release, performing some ballad-y song at her piano called “Hold Up.”

Mishavonna Henson, Kai Kalama, Nick Mitchell, Adam Lambert and Jasmine Murray remained, awaiting their fate. All were brought to the stage and almost all were as quickly dismissed until only Nick and Adam remained. This was unfortunate, because I thought both ought to have moved on. Lambert can sing, Nick can entertain and if I had to pick just one it would probably still be Mitchell.

Simon Cowell said he prayed “about five or six hours nonstop” after Wednesday’s performances, his effort to keep Mitchell from winning. It all paid off - Mitchell was eliminated, and Adam Lambert again strongly performed his winning tune.

“I thought Nick was hilarious,” he admitted, adding “I’m really excited. Thank you!”

Next week, the last of the 36 semifinalists will sing. This group features Arianna Afsar, Ju’not Joyner, Kristin McNamara, Nathaniel Marshall, Lil Rounds, Jorge Nuñez, Kendall Beard, Scott MacIntyre, Von Smith, Taylor Vaifanua, Alex Wagner-Trugman and last-minute replacement Felicia Barton.

(You can find all the American Idol 8 posts here.)