'American Idol:' Scotty McCreery Will Face Lauren Alaina in Finale

10:25 PM PDT 5/19/2011 by Jillian Mapes, Billboard

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Haley Reinhart eliminated; the two-part finale of Fox's singing competition airs Tuesday and Wednesday from the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

FOX

Haley Reinhart

On Thursday's American Idol, the raspy-voiced underdog finally met her match. After finding herself in the bottom three numerous weeks in a row earlier this season (but hitting her stride in recent weeks), Haley Reinhart was eliminated from Idol.

This leaves teenaged country singers Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina to duke it out in the show's Season 10 finale, airing Tuesday with the results to follow Wednesday. Host Ryan Seacrest boasted to the crowd that this week's voting numbers reached 95 million, the most votes of any nonseason finale in Idol's history.

As her final song, the Wheeling, Ill., native returned to Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets," which the rock songstress performed earlier this season.

Also performing on Thursday night's Idol were Pussycat Dolls leader Nicole Scherzinger, with an assist from 50 Cent on her single "Right There," as well as Italian tenor trio Il Volo with "O Sole Mio."

Thursday night's show also saw the three contestants travel back to their respective hometowns for reunion shows and confidence-boosting fanfare.