American Idol Conspiracy?

If you haven't watched Thursday night's American Idol results show, you missed out on one crazy night. Take a look at my episode recap here.

With the shock of Casey being the one with the lowest amount of votes this week, something simply doesn't seem right. How does a guy go from the top to the very bottom? Check out the gang's Twitter follower count, as of Thursday night a couple hours after the show:

1. Scotty McCreery: 44,001
2. Casey Abrams: 41,640 
3. Paul McDonald: 35,661
4. Lauren Alaina: 31,149
5. Pia Toscano: 30,378
6. James Durbin: 28,619
7. Thia Megia: 28,609
8. Stefano Langone: 26,949
9. Jacob Lusk: 17,766  
10. Haley Reinhart: 14,230
11. Naima Adedapo: 13,662

Not too much has changed. Scotty moved right up to the top, James moved up above Thia, and overall, everyone's follower numbers increased. So, if the same people are voting every week, why would things change so drastically that Casey would have been voted out if the judges hadn't used their only save...with 11 people left in this competition?

At first, I was skeptical. I've watched this show for years, and there have always been shocking exits...but they typically come once they reach the top six. Never with this many competitors! It was my husband who commented that the show was rigged. I denied it. Why would American Idol rig the votes? How can they do that?

When you think about it, there are a few reasons they might have wanted to do this. For one thing, they lost out on ratings last season to Dancing With the Stars. So, maybe they want to ensure the ratings are better this year. For another thing, ticket sales for the American Idol tour were abysmal last year. In fact, they even ended up cancelling some of their shows altogether. What better way to spice things up than to take 11 contestants out on tour after a controversial episode early on in the season? Finally, the judges save is completely out of the game this early in the season. Now, they can work the angle that America has to vote in order to keep their favorites in the competition - there is no back-up plan. After all, when the show first started out, the judges save never existed. That was a recent addition from just a couple seasons ago.

On the flip side, maybe America just thought Casey was safe and didn't need their votes, so they voted for others instead. Maybe they didn't like his performance. But, I guarantee you the same exact people vote week in and week out. How do you explain that drastic of a drop in votes for a fan favorite and possible Season 10 winner? You can bet all his fans will be voting for him like crazy and this guy won't be in the bottom three anytime soon after what happened Thursday.

What do you think? Was the vote rigged? Did American Idol put poor Casey through hell just to get a ratings boost? Or, do you think he just didn't get enough votes because America didn't like his performance or thought he didn't leave them? I'd like to hear your thoughts. To weigh in, leave a comment!