Last night's American Idol was less than exciting as they cut the contestants down to the final 24. Jeffrey Lampkin, the over-the-top brother of Fort Mill's Michelle Lampkin, didn't make the cut. In fact, nobody from either Carolina are in the Top 24.

It's still early, but I'm going out on a limb and picking my favorites. That, of course, can change from week to week depending on how bad they butcher their songs!

My Top 5, in no particular order, are:

• Amanda Overmyer, 23, of Mulberry, Indiana

Looks like our local American Idol hopeful got cut pretty fast. Michelle Lampkin got no screen time in tonight's episode, other than a quick group shot as she headed off stage following elimination. They shoulda at least shown a quick clip of her performance!

On the plus side, her larger-than-life brother Jeffrey moved on at least to the next round. He's great -- I think he could be the next Ruben, only with a MUCH better personality. There's still a half hour left in tonight's episode, so anything can happpen. Here's hoping he'll make it through the finals!

OK, so maybe we don't have a local castaway but is anybody as excited as I am about the new season of Survivor? I think it's gonna be interesting with the fans vs. favorites and can't wait to see how the season unfolds. Think Jonny Fairplay will last past the first episode? Will James play smarter this time? Why did Amanda get a second shot? And finally — go Ozzy!

Oh, Jaime, why???? Why must you be so blonde? And why do you have to be a USC student? Because now the world has yet another reason to think blondes and South Carolinians are dumb.

There she was tonight sitting so smug, thinking she found the hidden immunity idol. Did she not stop to think there were two of those things at each camp and maybe there's a reason James just dropped the one?

Life’s not always fair, as Aaron learned in tonight’s Survivor when he was voted off by his new tribe. But, on the plus side, we learned Survivor producers can still pull new tricks out of their bag.

First, the SurYvor Family Challenge at YMCS has been cancelled. Apparently there was no interest.

Here's a great interview with Leslie from Reality TV World. Apparently they got more than the 15 minutes her press agents gave me! There's some good stuff here, though, including her explaination of the "not a religious person" comment. She also says she's pulling for Courtney of all people!

Here's the link

I had a nice chat with Leslie earlier today, and she spilled all sorts of fun information like how Todd was the smelliest person in China. I asked her if she had read any of this blog and she said she kept up for the first week but then stopped because it was getting her down. So come on, people, show her a little love and congratulate her for making her dream come true!!! She said she should be back on the radio on her midmorning talk show within a couple of weeks.

Anyway, the Q&A will be in tomorrow's The Herald. Here are a few of the questions that we didn't have space for:

Wanna ask Leslie a question? Now's your chance.

I have a 3 p.m. phone interview to chat with Leslie about her Survivor experience. Submit inquiries or comments by 2:45 p.m. Thanks!

If you questions but don't feel comfortable posting it on this blog site, feel free to e-mail me at SGreene@heraldonline.com.

Leslie's stint on Survivor is over. In a 6-2 vote, our Tega Cay Survivor became the third castaway voted off Survivor: China.

Blog to be continued...