‘X-Factor’ Shocker

On last night’s results show on the “X-Factor,” two contestants had to belt out a third tune (the previous two were performed Wednesday night) to stay alive, and one of those went home. But it wasn’t the one most viewers would have expected, and not before a couple of star performances. Lenny Kravitz opened the show and Mary J. Blige also performed. Between those two performances, two top vote-getters made it through: Josh Krajcik, the final over-30 singer, and Chris Rene, who sang an original number Wednesday night. The nervous three waiting in the wings to hear results were Melanie Amaro, Rachel Crow and Marcus Canty. Melanie was the last voted through, leaving Rachel and Marcus to perform for the judges’ approval. After they all had their say, Nicole Scherzinger said she couldn’t make up her mind – Marcus or Rachel. Host Steve Jones reminded her she had to make a choice, and only a tie would send it to deadlock. So she tearfully and reluctantly voted to send Rachel home. That meant the act that got the lowest number of votes from America was eliminated. And that act was Rachel. Upon hearing the news, Rachel collapsed in tears. The final four enter the semifinal round Wednesday night on Fox.