American Idol Down To Top 20: Two Boys And Two Girls Say Goodbye

Janell Wheeler, Ashley Rodriguez, Joe Munoz, Tyler Grady - Michael Becker / FOX

American Idol season 9′s top 24 is down to the top 20. Two girls and two guys said goodbye to the competition on the show’s first results show of the season.

The first to leave was 24-year-old Janell Wheeler, who failed to wow the judges with a screechy version of Heart‘s “What About Love” on Tuesday night’s top 12 girls night. 22-year-old judges’ favorite, Ashley Rodriguez, soon followed behind Janell in the cut pile. Ashley was another victim of choosing a song that was just too big for her voice. She was swallowed up by Leona Lewis‘ “Happy.” The judges warned that she was not improving and instead “going backwards.”

The guys delivered the first minor shocker of the season. The first male elimination boiled down to 20-year-old Tim Urban, who was called back to the show to replace disqualified contestant Chris Golightly, and 20-year-old Joe Munoz. Urban struggled vocally on OneRepublic‘s “Apologize” and prompted Simon Cowell to deliver a harsh, “We absolutely made the right choice the first time around by not putting you through.” Ellen DeGeneres was less worried for Urban, saying people will probably vote for him because he’s “adorable.” Munoz’s critique wasn’t as harsh, but the judges were bored by his performance of Jason Mraz‘s “You and I Both.” Adorable and vocally challenged won over OK and boring, as Tim Urban was spared and Joe Munoz sent home.

20-year-old drummer turned wannabe frontman Tyler Grady put the X on his own name by focusing too much time on perfecting his 70s styling than his voice in “American Woman.” Before singing the show off, Grady made an egregious boo-boo by throwing the judges under the bus for not giving him enough constructive criticism during Hollywood week.