Three now remain standing, including Missouri's David Cook and Syesha Mercado of Florida, along with the 17-year-old Murray High School junior.

It also means that David will for certain be arriving in Utah Thursday night for a homecoming celebration in his hometown of Murray planned for Friday afternoon (had he been booted tonight, he would have stayed in Los Angeles for a round of news interviews).

The public event for David and his family is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. at Murray High's football field, 5440 S. State St., where he is expected to sing for the crowd as well as be honored by Murray City Mayor Dan Snarr. The rally will be filmed by the show's producers for next week's episode.

Earlier Friday, David also is tentatively scheduled to appear at the AT&T store at the Gateway Mall in downtown Salt Lake City to meet with fans.

Friday night, he will sing the national anthem at the Jazz-Lakers playoff game at the EnergySolutions Arena at 7 p.m. His performance will not be televised during the game's broadcast on KJZZ Channel 14 and ESPN due to an exclusivity contract with the Fox network.

Then David will leave for Los Angeles likely Saturday morning to rehearse for next week's show where the contestants will have to sing three songs.

It wasn't exactly a shocker when it was announced Castro, who seemed relieved to be leaving the show, had the lowest votes after his botched versions of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" and Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man."

Not only were his performances widely criticized by the judges - Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell - but the laid back Castro also forgot part of the lyrics to Dylan's classic song.

"This was like, honestly, a first-round-audition massacre," Cowell told Castro after his performance of "Sheriff" on Tuesday night's episode.

"Jason, I'd pack your suitcase," he later told him.

And so he will.