Time to go home: Ashthon Jones is comforted by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest after being voted offIt turned out that axed contestant Ashthon Jones's was not the only casualty of American Idol last night.
The 25-year-old hopeful was sent packing in last night's results show as it emerged that fellow contestant Casey Abrams was unable to attend the show due to a hospital dash.
According to internet reports, 20-year-old Casey, from Illinois, needed to medical treatment for a stress-induced bleeding stomach ulcer.
He suffered a similar set back a few weeks ago just before the Top 24 was revealed.
Host Ryan Seacret was scant with details, only revealing he was in hospital and wished him to 'get back here soon'.
But the show must go on, so it was left to the remaining 12 to perform a cover of Michael Jackson hits.
Awaiting their fate: Ashthon waits with Karen Rodriguez and Haley Reinhart to find out who's going home
Too much to handle: Ashthon and Haley comfort each other as they wait for the judges' decisionThe performance was somewhat sketchy, however, with pre-recorded vocals and some poor examples of lip syncing.
But it wasn't long before the cohort of finalists was cut down to size with Haley Reinhart and Karen Rodriguez joining Ashthon in the bottom three.
Later in the show Ryan sends Karen to safety, before revealing Ashthon, who sang Diana Ross' When You Tell Me That You Love Me in Wednesday night's show, has the least number of public votes.
Hospital dash: Casey Abrams, seen here performing in Wednesday night's programme, was unable to make the results show due to a 'stress-induced stomach ulcer', according to reportsEarly indications show around 30million votes were cast by the public.
After performing When You Tell Me That You Love Me, the judges vote unanimously to eliminate Ashthon and decided not to use their 'save' vote.
The save card was brought in recently and allows all four judges to save one contestant from being eliminated.
Judgement time: American Idol judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson sit on the panel
Teary-eyed: Jennifer appeared to be finding it difficult to decide which of the contestants go homeIt can be used up until the top five contestants are eliminated and only once.
It has to be an unanimous decision and once used up it cannot be brought into effect again for the rest of the season.
Last night's result show also featured a performance from former American Idol winner Adam Lambert.
Swan song: Ashthon performs for the final time as she's watched by the rest of the American Idol contestants
Sad to see her go: The remaining contestants applaud after Ashthon's emotional final performanceIn the the first of the studio shows of the season on Wednesday, the contestants had just a minute and a half to try and persuade America to vote for them - but even that was too long for some.
The 'live' America Idol show - recorded a day early to allow the new judges time to settle in - didn't go well for everyone, with lacklustre performances and dull song choices slowing things down.
The boys were more on form, with Paul McDonald, Casey Abrams, Jacob Lusk and James Durbin all exciting the judges.
Who are you backing? Amanada also attended the contestants performances and chatted to SeacrestOf the girls Pia Toscano lived up to last week's stunning performance, but many of her fellow females failed to deliver.
Naima Adedapo at least had some energy as she offered up an imitation of Rihanna, but Karen Rodriguez struggled to do justice to her choice of Selena's I Could Fall in Love and Haley Reinhart was simply labelled 'boring' by Randy Jackson.
The finalists had paid tribute to their own Idols as they performed songs by their very favourite artists.
Famous faces: P Diddy performed his track Coming Home on the programme last night"Casey Abrams - With a little help of my friends" American Idol 2011 Top 13
source: dailymail