It’s time for another X Factor dream to be crushed … then pulverized, and then ground into a fine, luminous powder and sprinkled over the Road to Victory, the easier for the three remaining performers to see their way as they march to next week’s finale.

Whoa, what? Sorry, I got a little dark there for a minute. It’s just that, given how wretched and uncomfortable last week’s elimination was, and that tonight the obnoxious and smug Nicole Scherzinger is going to force her obnoxiousness and smugness down our throats with a performance of her song “Pretty” (which, until I hear otherwise, I’m going to assume is about Nicole feeling sorry for herself because she’s too beautiful to be taken seriously), I’m feeling a bit bleak.

You know who else is probably feeling bleak right now? Marcus Canty. Even his “Vegas show in 1983” version of “Careless Whisper” didn’t seem to improve his chances of getting through tonight. (Oh, Simon meant that as an insult? Sounded like a compliment to me. I mean, ALL THAT CONFETTI. It was a bit “horrific,” but delightfully so.)

But, as last night’s “Pepsi Challenge” songs demonstrated, there’s just no telling what those wacky X Factor voters will come up with. So, while we wait for the results with baited breath and barf bags at the ready (still talking about Scherzinger, folks), tell me: Who should be the one to get the boot?

(Image courtesy of FOX)

Meghan Carlson

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

Meghan hails from Walla Walla, WA, the proud home of the world’s best sweet onions and Adam West, the original Batman. An avid grammarian and over-analyzer, you can usually find her thinking too hard about plot devices in favorites like The OfficeIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and How I Met Your Mother. In her spare time, Meghan enjoys drawing, shopping, trying to be funny (and often failing), and not understanding the whole Twilight thing. She’s got a BA in English and Studio Art from Whitman College, which makes her a professional arguer, daydreamer, and doodler.