Credit card donations can be made over the phone at 1-877-IDOL-AID (1-877-436-5243) or donate online at idolaid.com

After a bumpy start (Ryan missed his lines and even had “Dave the camera guy” back up so he could try again. Good for him, he should make sure to do it right.) Ryan introduces tonight to have the most shocking results in Idol history. Last night there were over 70 million votes so News Corporation will be donating the full $5,000,000! A quick jump over to the Disney symphony hall shows us that Ellen DeGeneres is hosting from the secondary stage.

The first group up is Earth, Wind, & Fire. I wonder how many kids are sitting at home watching this group and saying, “who?” Earth, Wind, & Fire was a 70’s band with many albums that went Platinum, double Platinum, and even triple Platinum. They’re obviously still performing, but they had their peak a few decades ago.

Randy then leads the show through a video of the tour he took of Louisiana to see all the damage still nearly 2 years later. This is a place that still really needs a great deal of support in its rebuilding.

Quincy Jones takes some time with the performers to talk and sing with them. He then leads them through a group performance, all of which are clad in white, of “Time to Care”.

Ben Stiller comes on and does some good jokes about all the movies he’s been in. Next he lets us know that he plans to sing non-stop until the show has raised $200 billion dollars. He’s actually going to sing the very same song the entire time. Please, donate now to help stop Ben.

Ryan and Simon return in their video to the children and families they visited on their trip to Africa. One of the young children they visit is a 12 year old boy who lost both parents and is now the leader of his family. It’s a very sad story and is really motivating to support the cause.

Our first results reveal for the night is with Melinda Doolittle and… she is safe. No kidding. Of course she is, she’s great!

Paula’s video gives us a tour of a Boys & Girls club. There’s a slightly awkward moment when the little girl slides from discussing how she likes dancing to how her family can’t pay the bills.

Il Divo is the next group up. Now I had to look up Il Divo because I couldn’t tell if they were a joke or not. The first guy had an incredibly silly, cartoonish look to him. But sure enough, they’re real, and guess who founded this group?? That’s right, Simon Cowell did! Sheesh. Shameless plugging of your own stuff during a charity event. The important message from this part though is that every 3 seconds a child dies in extreme poverty.

Alright, Jack Black is on stage! Awesome. He’s ready to break into song and blow our minds! Jack Black is going to perform “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal. Brave choice even for the master. His buddy KG is out in the audience holding a rose, it’s hilarious. So how does his review from the judges’ panel go? Well Simon tells him it was better than Sanjaya. Jack is hurt by that and says that if Seal was here he’d back him up. Guess what? Seal is right there and tells Jack Black that it was the best rendition that he’s ever heard! Glorious.

The next result reveal is given. Blake Lewis stands up and Ryan tells him… to sit back down. Blake Lewis is safe this week.

Following this we get a performance from Carrie Underwood of “I’ll Stand By You.” There is a video playing of her visit to Africa. One of the scenes show the children all holding up Carrie Underwood dolls they made. Very cute. Rascal Flatts are up now with “My Wish” and have a nice performance.

Ryan notes that half of every dollar raised tonight will remain in America to help children and families here in the U.S. The video next shows a family in a town where half of the adults did not complete high school. A mother describes how she’s not able to read some words and has to ask her daughters for help. It’s amazing because it’s so easy to forget that this could be a reality here in America.

“Crazy Thing Called Love” is the group commercial music video for Ford and their Mustang. Geez, these are so awful. Speaking of awful, now we get 30+ celebrities that are all lip syncing to “Staying Alive”. Okay, it’s not awful, but it’s bizarre. I think they could have done something better live with these celebrities really being there for the show instead. That whole list of celebrities who would be involved (Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Hugh Grant, etc.) they were only in this video, they didn’t actually come out there live. Still nice of them to get together though for it.

Our next reveal for the night is with Phil Stacey, and he is… safe! Good for him.

The next video returns Simon and Ryan to Africa. They visit a family that lives with 14 people in one room. Many of the children are orphans from HIV and several others who are already infected with HIV, infected at birth. One women they visit dies just two days later.

A very cool announcement from Ellen DeGeneres proceeds the next performance. Ellen tells us that she is personally donating $100,000 to support Idol Gives Back. That’s awesome. Josh Groban is up now and performs “You Raise Me Up” along with a children’s choir from Africa. I’ve always enjoyed this song and the children add a lot to it, very nicely done.

Another return video highlights the rapid death rate in Africa. So many children are dying from malaria every day. A packet of medicine costing only $2 can save the lives of four children. One such child that AI camera crew comes across and drives to the hospital is not so fortunate and dies before they can get there. 50 cents worth of medicine could have saved that baby. It’s a crushing situation to see.

Kelly Clarkson is up next and gives an amazing performance. I didn’t catch the name of the song (please update me in the comments if you know it).

The Simpsons visit and Lisa gives a hilarious impression of Paula Abdul, bright eyed and clapping at any performance thrown her way. The whole family judges Simon Cowell singing “Don’t You Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me.” Homer tells him to drop the accent as this is American Idol. Simon ends up getting the Mr. Burns treatment and is dropped through a trapdoor.

The next results reveal is with LaKisha Jones. Ryan informs her that she is… staying, she is safe. So now it’s down to Jordin Sparks and Chris Richardson. Earlier I predicted Chris Richardson would go home. That might be happening as I really doubt that it’s going to be Jordin Sparks.

So now for the creepiest moment of the night. Celine Dion is going to perform a duet with a dead man. Yes, that’s right, a man many years dead, Elvis Presley. They of course use an Elvis impersonator. What I can’t determine is if they used old footage of Elvis or if the man on-stage was not digitally altered at all. Next, even if it was the real guy they used a pre-recording right? Had to, otherwise it wouldn’t have been a duet with Elvis, but rather with an impersonator. Since Ryan thanked the Elvis estate it must have been at least his vocal recordings. So this was like when the Beatles used old recordings from John Lennon to release the first new Beatles song in years with “Free as a Bird”.

Update: Here is a deeper discussion of this Celine Dion and Elvis duet performance.

The next performance tonight is by Annie Lennox with “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”. Can’t go wrong with Annie Lennox, she’s always great.

It is now time for the final results. It’s down to Chris Richardson and Jordin Sparks. Hmm… The person going home tonight is… not Chris Richardson… nor is it Jordin Sparks. What?? That means no one goes home tonight. Next week the bottom two performers will be going home. They will hold on to the vote counts and then combine those with the votes from next week to determine the bottom two over these two weeks. Got it? Good.

The final guest on the show is Bono who reminds all the contestants to not remember him when they get to the top of the mountain, but instead to remember the lives they helped to change. Be sure to visit the site of Bono’s cause: www.one.org

Again, here is the telephone number for the American Idol Charity: Idol Gives Back. Credit card donations can be made over the phone at 1-877-IDOL-AID (1-877-436-5243) or donate online at idolaid.com

Check out the rest of our American Idol coverage.