<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Drew Ryniewicz&amp;apos;s X Factor journey has officially ended.\r\nThe bubbly blonde 14-year-old found herself in the bottom two during Thursday&amp;apos;s double elimination episode, getting the boot along with teen rapper Brian &amp;quot;Astro&amp;quot; Bradley.\r\n\r\nIn what was arguably the show&amp;apos;s most shocking elimination to date, Simon Cowell, Ryniewicz&amp;apos;s mentor, blamed himself for her exit, and argued that his song choice for her -- Michael Jackson&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Billie Jean&amp;quot; -- did her in.\r\n&amp;quot;I shouldn&amp;apos;t have chosen that song,&amp;quot; Cowell reasoned of the King of Pop&amp;apos;s hit, which he stripped down for the teen singer, who performed ballad-style sitting on a chair without any fanfare or dancers. &amp;quot;It was too slow. I should have listened to the others.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nCowell voted to keep Ryniewicz, but fellow judges Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and L.A. Reid axed her in favor of Marcus Canty.\r\n&amp;quot;I&amp;apos;ve not seen this side of Simon before!&amp;quot; Abdul reasoned to Us Weekly backstage after the eliminations. &amp;quot;If anyone ever thought it was BS how much we get involved, it&amp;apos;s not. It got to Simon that at times all three of us [judges] were saying, &amp;apos;You need to show diversity with Drew.&amp;apos; Drew has a beautiful voice and a recognizable quality but in these competitions, playing it safe doesn&amp;apos;t always pay off.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nDespite Thursday&amp;apos;s outcome, Abdul applauds Cowell for owning up to his mistake.\r\n&amp;quot;Simon displayed the ability to be humbled, which is a very difficult thing for him. I respect him even more after tonight,&amp;quot; she told Us. &amp;quot;But it&amp;apos;s hard. And being humbled and taking the blame isn&amp;apos;t something we&amp;apos;ve seen from Simon.&amp;quot;\r\nThough he still has two contestants -- Rachel Crow and Melanie Amaro -- to mentor in the competition, Cowell says he&amp;apos;ll continue to think about what could have been with Ryniewicz.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;Every time I&amp;apos;ve done one of these shows, something like this has happened,&amp;quot; he said Thursday. &amp;quot;I remember for example it happened with Jennifer Hudson [on American Idol]. At the time it was the song and this time a similar thing has happened. I think we got it wrong on the night and that was the problem. If you could rewind the tape, you&amp;apos;d do it differently. I certainly wouldn&amp;apos;t use the chair [as a prop during Drew&amp;apos;s performance again]. That chair is going to be chopped to pieces! And I&amp;apos;ll do the chopping myself!&amp;quot;\r\nTell Us: Did Drew deserve to get the boot?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/drew-ryniewicz-eliminated-in-x-factor-shocker-2011212>