Utahn makes a fast exit from 'Idol'

Given the horrible things the judges said about him Tuesday, it's no big surprise that Provo's John Preator didn't make the finals of "American Idol."

The Brigham Young University student was more or less critically assassinated by Randy Jackson, Paul Abdul and Simon Cowell on Tuesday's installment of the hit Fox series. And when the results of the phone-in voting by viewers were announced Wednesday night, Preator wasn't one of the top two.

At least he didn't have to wait long -- he was the first of eight contestants eliminated. Not that there was a lot of suspense after what the judges said Tuesday.

"I'm glad that's over, man. That was painful for me, man," Jackson said after Preator performed "That's What Love Is All About." "There wasn't one note, I think, that was in tune."

"You started off off-pitch," said Abdul, who at least tried to be a bit nicer.

And then there were the comments from Cowell, the "mean" judge, which didn't make much sense but were definitely not nice: "If ever we do 'American Idol' as an ice-dancing musical, you would be perfect."

Which left Preator without much to say other than, "I didn't think it was that bad."

And, no doubt, feeling pretty good that he didn't give up on the current semester at BYU while waiting his turn to perform after being selected last month as one of 32 contestants who advanced to this round. Particularly because Preator wasn't named to the pool of contestants who could return as "wild cards" -- meaning "Idol" is over for him.

"I'm on track to graduate from BYU next April -- 2005. . . . If this doesn't work out this week, I'll go back to school," Preator said.

And, despite the judges' critical comments, he's glad he had the chance to perform on "American Idol."

"How many chances do you get to perform in front of 30 million people?" Preator said. "You never know what might come from that. It's a great opportunity to get exposure for projects to come. And there's always going to be more auditions and more opportunities around the corner."

A theater/music/dance major at BYU, he isn't necessarily committed to pursuing a career in show business, however.

"I'll be honest," Preator said with a laugh. "I'm a little unsure about that at this point. I had some plans before this stuff all came about to possibly start looking into pre-dental courses. I also do a little bit of graphic design (and) Web design. And those are interests that I have that, depending on how this all works out, I may still pursue. I don't know. It'll just kind of be play-it-by-ear at this point."

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com

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