FINALE RESULTS!

It's the show we've all been waiting for! Finally after a great season we will find out who the American Idol of Season 8 is! YAY! Here's my play by play and reactions from moments throughout the show.

I LOVED the intros of the judges! These people have one of the best jobs on the planet so they deserve to be put on blast every once in a while. What did you say? Sweetie, for me for you it was exuberant brilliance! :-) LOVE IT.

Next up is a group performance, and can I just say THANK GOD they did not lip sync it! The top 13 perform Pink's "So What" dressed in all white. Basically it can't get any better than this for me because its my favorite musical artist and my favorite TV meshed into one faboosh performance! :-) I do have to say that these group numbers sound like "Kids Bop" sometimes... but they are still fun.

Then, last year's winner David Cook performs. To be honest, I fast forwarded through this performance (love me some DVR!) He's aight for me dawg... but I was more interested in Kris/Adam. I do think it showed some strength for him to perform so soon after his brother passed away... and its cool that the proceeds from the song will go to cancer research. David always has been a nice guy.

Ryan then introduces the Golden Idol Awards. At first I rolled my eyes because in year's past this whole award thing has been a useless filler in the show... but this time I have to say that I actually enjoyed the awards. This first one, for Outstanding Male went to Nick Mitchell/Normund Gentle... and I have to say that I totally got played by him. When he came up there in an American Eagle sweatshirt and jeans I immediately commented on his outfit, finding it ridiculous tha the would wear that sort of outfit on the show. But that tricky Nick was one step ahead of us, ripping off the street clothes to perform his memorable song. Although he has deifnitely sounded better, I'm glad that they gave Nick some camera time. He was a fun addition to this year's season.

The first "celebrity" performance of the night features one of my favorites... Queen Latifa! She is awesome! I love that she's a big girl and she was ROCKIN' that skin tight outfit. I'm sure there will be criticism... but I give her mad props. I don't give mad props for the song choice. Never heard of this "Cue the Rain". I'm not the only one, am I? Plus, Lil Rounds... well meh. I'm over her. Still.

Next up is Jason Mraz! Awesome! a Jason Mraz and Kris Allen duet is perfect! They've been calling Kris "Jason-Mrazy" all season... so we finally get to see them together!!! YAY! ..... ummm .... wait. Is that Anoop? And Alexis? No Kris? What? I'm confused. You brought Jason Mraz on the show for a performance with Anoop and Alexis?!?! Sheesh Idol. So far this show has been great... but this is strike one.

Next up we see Kris's back story and then he comes out to duet with country star Keith Urban! They perform Keith's new single called "Kiss a Girl" This duet REALLY worked. Kris did a great job at sliding from the low register up to high notes as Keith Urban does often on his songs. Listening to this performance made me think that Kris could release a mainstream pop version of this country tune and it could be very successful for him. It's a great fit for him! I've always said that Adam could sing any song that the other contestants performed and do it better... but I think my theory was finally proven incorrect. Something about Adam performing "Kiss a Girl" just doesn't sound like a good idea. :-)

When the five girls came out next and performed "Glamorous" I thought they looked like the Pussycat Dolls up there! Maybe they should have performed "When I Grow Up"! This performance definitely reminds us all why Megan and Jamsine got voted out... (yikes). Then Fergie emerges to sing "Big Girls Don't Cry" and she reminds us why she too isn't a contestant on American Idol (that was a low blow... sorry Fergie...). Then I think there was some performance by the Black Eyed Peas singing some song called "Boom Boom Pow" or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention to the performing because I was too distracted by the human-like beings in black and white that were dancing around the stage. Ummm... WTF?!? Cool outfits! I couldn't stop looking at them. Although at one point I did enjoy watching Fergie almost trip and fall in those 12.5" heels!

More Golden Idol Awards... for this one its "Best Attitude" and of course our winner is Katrina Darrell, a.k.a. "Bikini Girl". In my opinion, this part of the show gave us two of my favorite moments of the entire night! First of all, as Bikini Girl walks on stage we can all see that she has had some "enhancements" since her first appearance on the show... and to this Ryan says "I was going to ask you 'What's New' but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer". GENIUS! Thank you Ryan! :-) The next memorable moment is when Katrina takes the stage to sing her song, and she is horrible (as expected). Part way through Kara comes out from behind and totally upstages her! The looks on Katrina's face were priceless! I thought we were going to see a bitchslap right then and there. Then, Kara totally takes me by surprise and rips off her dress! Now Kara is not only upstaging Katrina with her voice but also with her body! SHE LOOKED GOOD! :-) Way to go Kara. You earned major cool points from me for not being afraid to do this on live TV.

Following the bikini maddness, Allison Iraheta performs with Cyndi Lauper! At first I thought that "Time After Time" was a little too slow and I would have much enjoyed her rocking out... but towards the end, I appreciated the performance because it really did showcase Allison's vocal talent. The girl can sing, and I hope that she gets some opportunities out of this experience to do some awesome stuff!

Next up is the contestant I was waiting all night for!!!! Danny Gokey!!!! PSYCHE! :-P Danny takes the stage to perform "Hello" and all I can think is that David Cook owned this song last year and Danny has no business singing it. Then... (*gasp*) Lionel Richie is actually there and comes out to perform some song that I don't know. I'm asuming its Lionel's new sing that he is pimping on the show to hopefully get a download or two on iTunes. Then... thankfully...the duo breaks out some "All Night Long". I'm surprised at how great Lionel still sounds! I guess he isn't that old... but it just seems like artists who go away for a bit always seem to sound a bit rough when they come back... and he didn't sound rough at all. You go on Lionel!

Next up, Adam appears on the mini-stage behind the judges and he is is glam-rocked out! He's got on some ridiculously-high heeled boots, a lot of leather, and some interesting shell/wing things on his shoulders. He's got on the guyliner, the sparkles, the whole nine. He performs the KISS ballad "Beth" and I'm thinking in my head "is KISS really going to be here?" To me, that just seems un-doable... to get KISS to agree to be on American Idol. But then again, Gene Simmons did guest host a couple seasons ago. Sure enough... "Beth" ends and "Detroit Rock City" begins as KISS is lowered to the floor on a platform with fireworks a blazing! Adam and Kiss perform that song and "Rock and Roll All Night", and it was PHENOMENAL! I literally said "Who cares if he even wins now?"... he has totally stolen the show. That is a performance that people are going to be talking about. It was a perfect fit for Adam, as he has always liked to mix audio and visual to make a great performance. Who better to do that with than KISS? That was one of the best moments in Idol history!

Next, Carlos Santana takes the stage to perform "Black Magic Woman" with Matt Giraud starting out on the main vocals (and sounding a bit rough... which I hate to say because I love Matt). Then the rest of the finalists join him on stage in black and red and perform "Smooth". I almost forgot about Scott McIntyre until I saw him out there dancing with the other contestants... you GO Scott. In the great words of Paula Abdul... you go "dance like there's no tomorrow". :-)

Ryan introduces the last Ford music video of the year featuring the song "I Will Remember You". Where is this download?!? The song sounded great and I would love to have the Kris/Adam duet! Pretty awesome. Then David Cook shows up to "surprise" the finalists with cars. I wasn't surprised that they got cars... but I was surprised that they chose to do this again this year. On Survivor Ford usually gives away a vehicle but they didn't this year because they were afraid how the public would percieve them for giving away vehicles when Ford is in such trouble nowadays. Why wouldn't this apply to Idol too?

Who knew that Steve Martin played the banjo or had an album coming out? That's craziness. At first I thought they were setting us up for a bad joke. The only thing worth laughing at was Megan Joy's singing! Poor Michael Sarver that his moment in the spotlight was shared with someone who cannot harmonize if her life depended on it.

Next, all the male contestants take the stage in suits and sing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?". To answer that for a couple of you... YES! :-) Then, Rod Stewart comes out and sings "Maggie May". For the first time all season I think someone on the show was mre drunk than Paula! Rod was totally sauced and you all know it. The way he was slurring his words and stumbling around. Sheesh Rod!

Then we have our final Golden Idol Award for Outstanding Female. As soon as Ryan reads the category, I start clapping and chanting "Tatiana!" You knew it was going to be her. And I also said "I hope she sings Saving All My Love AGAIN"... and she did! LOL. I love that she made fun of herself saying "C'mon Simon, I know you want to hear this song for a FOURTH time"!!! Honestly, props to her for making fun of herself in this segment.

Finally! The duet we've been waiting all night for!!!! Adam and Kris singing together. There are so many songs that would be awesome for them together... and what do they choose? "We Are the Champions"! GREAT CHOICE! The song was a great fit for both their voices. As they walked back to the mainstage and the lights came up on the band members from Queen, by reaction was "Get the F*CK out!" Seriously? Queen? That is just amazing. What a fantastic moment! This finale has been jampacked with such great collaborations and moments. Without a doubt, hands down, this has been the best American Idol Finale that there has been in all 8 seasons. And we haven't even gotten to the results yet!

After a commercial break, we return to Ryan and the accountant letting us know that there were 100 MILLION VOTES! That's pretty awesome! There is no mention of how many votes separated the contestants though... which makes me question... what it not as close as I thought it would be? If it was hella close you KNOW they would have said something about it... hmmm...

Then Ryan makes the announcement... and the winner is.... KRIS! WOW!!!!!! Kris's immediate reaction of his jaw dropping is probably the same reaction of many people around the country. The underdog actually pulled this one off! I really am happy for him... and his cute wife and family.

I do have to say that I was a little underwhelmed by Kris's reaction to the news... I would have thought he would have been a bit more expressive. All he could say was "are you friggen kidding me?".... and saying that "It should be Adam". C'mon dude! I want more from you than that. I wish they would have brought his wife up sooner... because those final few seconds of the show where we saw them hugging and Kris showing a little bit of emotion is all I needed. I guess that not all finals can have emotional results like Kelly, Carrie, and Jordin. But even last year David Cook shed a tear or two! C'mon Kris! It was pretty anti-climatic for me.

So there you have it folks... the recap of the finale show. Later today I'll post more of my reaction to the win. Come back to read more later!