Idol Bids Goodbye to Chris Sligh

Los Angeles (E! Online) - A good sense of humor and a wild mop of curls weren't enough to keep Chris Sligh's Idol momentum going.

The 28-year-old South Carolina native was issued his walking papers on Wednesday's American Idol after his performance of "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" on Tuesday's show proved less than magical.

Randy Jackson called the song "a train wreck," while Simon Cowell opined that it was "a mess."

Unfortunately for the Jack Osbourne look-alike, who adopted "Bringing Chubby Back" as his personal slogan on the show, America agreed with the judges.

Joining Sligh in the bottom three were Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey, who both managed to garner sufficient favor from viewers to last another week.

Decidedly not in the bottom three was Sanjaya Malakar, who distinguished himself on Tuesday's show by rocking easily the weirdest hairdo ever seen on Idol—something that could perhaps be described as a ponytailed fauxhawk.

Malakar's actual singing was far less memorable than his hair, which may have been a good thing, as far as his standing on the show was concerned.

Both Gina Glocksen and Chris Richardson won positive feedback from the judges, with Cowell calling Glocksen's performance of "I'll Stand By You" her best to date, and

Paula Abdul simply telling Richardson, "You're good."

Meanwhile, American Idol strongholds LaKisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis earned their usual rave reviews, with Abdul even calling Lewis the "dark horse" to win it all.

Gwen Stefani, who served as the celebrity coach of the pop-themed week, performed "The Sweet Escape" with Akon on Wednesday's show, effectively leaving last week's British Invasion theme in the dust.

Next week's show will again aim to please a more mature demographic, when

Tony Bennett makes a guest appearance to put the remaining nine contestants through their paces.

The reality competition's apparent efforts to bridge the generation gap by hiring stars from a bygone era as celebrity coaches may not be working out as planned.

Though Idol maintained its status as the nation's number-one show last week, the ratings are down an estimated 10 percent from the same time last year.

Which in Idol-speak still adds up to an audience of 30 million.