‘The X Factor’ USA results: Did Restless Road, Rion Paige, and Carlito Olivero make semifinals?

We begin tonight’s “X Factor” USA episode with another double elimination, which we personally see right now as somewhat of a good thing. Why? It’s an opportunity to get rid of some of the disappointing acts … at least in theory.

What do we have instead? The voters making baffling decisions. Sure, Ellona Santiago’s “If I Were a Boy” was pretty awful, and we’ve been hard on her; but, her overall body of work is way better than Jeff Gutt and Restless Road and all of those background singers that they worked with on the first song. She would have at least tried to do something interesting.

From here, we then transitioned into a bottom two showdown between Rion Paige and Carlito Olivero, who are both good (but not great) singers who really don’t have much of a chance at winning in the end. Let’s go through some of these save-me songs before we get to what some of the robo-judges thought about them.

Rion Paige – A flimsy vocal at best. She’s got a sweet story and is inspiring to a ton of people, but it feels like during the competition like nobody has had the courage to tell her just what she needs to work on. She is really just letting her passion be her crutch, and thinking that showing off is good compensation for any vocal mistakes that she makes. It’s not.

Carlito Olivero – Not a great vocal either, but Carlito did really make an effort to actually work the stage and please the audience. Just from saving us from yet another ballad, we’re inclined to support him.

We figured that this would be a perfect opportunity for the judges to take this to deadlock, given that this is really just a battle of personal preference above all else. But, Simon Cowell actually decided to send Rion home rather than force a tie, which is tough for Demi Lovato. There are now no women left in the competition save for Sierra, and the “Heart Attack” singer becomes a spectator. Grade: C-.

Do you think that we have the right four people in the semifinals, and do you think that anyone is going to even rival Alex & Sierra at this point? Share your thoughts below! Also, click here if you want to read our full review of last night’s show.

Photo: Fox