First, let me warn you that I spend most of my time at tapings watching Kalan, which is not exactly Objective Journalist of me, but I can't help it. The kid is so amusing and adorable to watch. (Let me also warn you that I will probably use the words "cute" and "adorable" way too many times in this report.) In the first group number, there was a long chunk of time in which the camera was on someone else and Kalan quite visibly forgot what he was supposed to be doing in terms of the choreo. The poor child just sort of stood there for a second and then decided to make a half-hearted attempt at copying whatever Jason was doing. I was seriously amused.
I honestly have no clue WTF went wrong with the second group number, but there seemed to be some audio issues. Being in the theatre, there's so much screaming and everything goes so fast that it all sort of dissolves into a blur. All I know is that man, that was embarrassing to watch, and I think they knew it, too. The second the cameras went off, Kalan practically ran off the stage, shaking his head and kind of laughing at himself. The child also blushes at, like, everything, which is thoroughly freaking adorable.
During the commercial break between the second group number and Ben reading out the results, Kalan looked like he wanted to throw up, Jacob looked so nervous he actually sat still for once in his life, and Shane had a resigned look on his face, as if he knew his time was up. When Ben announced he was going to wait until after the break to announce the second member of the bottom three, the four on the couch looked so tortured that I felt seriously sorry for them for a few seconds. Jacob and Shane got up immediately to go comfort Jason at centre stage, at which point Kalan, left on the couch with Theresa, slung his arm around her and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Tres cute.
When Zack gave his "Don't sing a Beach Boys tribute" advice to Shane and Jason, Kalan's reaction was super-super cute. He, like, cringed at the sound of the words "Beach Boys" and hid himself behind Theresa. After the re-sings, all the male judges came up on stage and started consoling Shane and Jason as if they'd both just been told they were going to be executed or something. Jacob went down to the judges' table and had a lengthy discussion about something or the other with Sass, ending with him licking his hand and offering it to her to shake. Um, okay.
The Kalan and Jacob shriekers were being incredibly insensitive during the break and trying to have scream-offs with each other to see who could get the boys' attention. The boys were looking distraught and were determined to have none of it, and Theresa started getting mad and mouthing, "Not us! SHANE AND JASON!" and pointing to said guys. She did this repeatedly, but the fangirls ignored her completely and didn't listen. Finally, she got upset, gave up, and just sat there with her head in her hands.
When Shane was announced as the booted one, Theresa started crying immediately, which was not shocking, since the girl honestly cries at the drop of a hat. Jacob looked like he'd cheerfully slit his wrists, and Kalan looked like a woebegone child who'd just lost his favourite pet. Jason? Well, he just looked smarmy.
Post-singout, Jacob and Shane hugged for about a billion years while I cringed at the tragedy that is Abbotsford's votes now going all to The Annoying Clown (I'm not exactly a Jacob fan). Gah. Kalan protectively hugged Theresa, who was bawling by this point, then turned around and wiped tears away himself. Awww. Zack came up and, like, draped himself over Kalan's shoulder and talked to him for awhile - he looked like he was trying to comfort him, but Kalan just kind of nodded, kept wiping away tears and had an expression on his face like, "Don't touch me. Especially now, dude." Then Ben came over and asked Kalan if he was okay, and Kalan kind of half-nodded. Theresa and Jason hugged for a very long time. Shane's friends and family were standing around right behind me and Angela, his wife, was practically the only one in the gang who won the battle in the fight to stay composed - the rest of them were pretty darned red-eyed and some were crying openly. I didn't even particularly like Shane, but aww.
That's pretty much all I can think of that was remotely interesting. Oh, wait! Two more things - a lot more people were actually singing along to Jason's Bad Case of Lovin' You than what it came across as on TV, unfortunately, and the crowd reaction to Gary Beals was the most lukewarm thing I've ever seen, even after two producers did their utmost to get the crowd hyped up about him and his dozen stupid dancers. Me? I laughed my ass off during his "performance". Heh.