Oh, group night. It's the night on American Idol when all attempts at professionalism go right out the window in favor of crying, backbiting, awkward choreography, and absolutely disastrous harmonies. What's not to love?

The funny thing about group night is that it's kind of a silly elimination challenge. Sure, there are group sings in the rest of Idol, but the singers are never judged on them — nor, for that matter, does their ability to get along with other people factor in. But group night is all about arranging a song, putting some goofy choreography to it, and managing not to kill your teammates — skills that a big portion of the Hollywood crowd seemed to lack. Frankly, I'm surprised only 25 or 30 people were eliminated; it seemed like the judges could have been far more savage.

As always, there was plenty of drama — but, interestingly, a lot of the people causing that drama found themselves headed home after their group performances. Want to chat about it? Just read more.

  • Katrina? Drama. Tatiana? Drama. Nancy and Nathaniel? Drama, drama, drama. I had to laugh at Nathan's sign about group night not being as easy as he thought it would be. Once again: Have these people seen Idol?
  • Also, there could not have been a worse matchup in Idol history than Bikini Girl and Rose. Ugh, it seemed obvious from the start that at least one of them wasn't going to make it through.
  • I'm glad Simon put his foot down on forgetting the words. Really, memorizing the song you're singing is a pretty basic skill. So, yeah, even though I was obviously an early fan of Emily Wynne-Hughes, it's totally fair that she was sent packing.

  • I thought it was ludicrous for Katrina to quit on her group — and even moreso once I heard her excuse. "I'd been in heels since 5 a.m."? Cry me a river. "I have scoliosis"? Then maybe don't wear the heels. I'm glad that Jasmine got to scoot through, though; she nearly saved the whole Divas performance.
  • Tatiana just makes my head hurt. All that quitting and coming back, the laughing and crying and praising Jesus . . . it's just too much to take. I actually hope, for her sake, that she doesn't make the top 36 — or that lots of people are skipping this part and only tuning in for the voting rounds — because every time she says something ridiculous, I can practically see her votes melting away.
  • I never, ever, ever want to see that image of Paula with the dead pink zombie eyes again. It's already given me nightmares.
  • On the positive side — yes, there was one! — White Chocolate was a standout, as was Danny's group. So mean of Simon to tell him to step forward and then send the whole group through!
  • I'd kind of forgotten about Adam Lambert, but I sure remembered him tonight.

Did any of the eliminations surprise you? Did anyone sneak through who you think should have been out? And at this point, is there anyone you're really rooting for?

Photos courtesy of Fox

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