It wasn’t a good afternoon for Wildcats. Less than an hour after the University of Kentucky basketball team was eliminated from the NCAA Basketball Tournament, UK graduate Derek Keeling was eliminated from the finals of Grease: You’re the One That I Want.

In the video bit right before the eliminations, Derek said he was confident he would be in the top two, and there was a sinking, "famous last words," sensation about that comment.

Throughout the competition, Derek and Max Crumm were the only two men who never ended up among the bottom two vote getters, and therefore, they had never been in danger of being eliminated. But once the judges left the decision completely up to the voters, Derek, at one point seen as the man to beat, ended up being the odd man out. Who knows how it happened. Maybe his weaknesses that were showing caught up to him. Maybe a suddenly realigned voting pool just didn’t go for him. Maybe Austin Miller’s brush with the bottom last week motivated his fan base. With a modest audience, you have to think the voting in this competition would be susceptible to sudden shifts in voting. Such is the hazard of having your fate left up to the whims of a reality show audience. There had to be a little irony for Derek singing, "I sit and wonder why, oh why?" at the end of the show.

But you know, in most auditions, if you came in third, you’d walk off the stage having been seen by just a few people, with no idea when you’d have another shot. But Derek, as well as the other competitors, have had weeks
of performing before millions of viewers. You have to think that for someone as talented as Derek, being on the Grease reality show will open a few doors for him. Having a Tony Award-winning director tell you, "We will work together, many times, in many shows," which Kathleen Marshall said as Derek left, had to be a nice consolation prize.

So, now it’s down to two unconventional choices: pretty Austin and "slacker" Max — Derek was considered the one who most, "looked like Danny." This
blog has been part of the chorus saying Max is clearly the most talented of two. When Chicago director Rob Marshall was talking about singing the songs in character, Max was the one who didn’t have to be told.
It’s really no surprise that the judges unanimously picked Max and Laura Osnes (copyrighted photos, left and right, by Chris Haston for NBC)as their Danny and Sandy at the end of the show. I had my head down working on this post when Laura and Ashley Spencer were singing their first competition number, and my head popped up when Laura started singing. Her voice is an attention grabber, and like Max, she has the acting chops.

So, at least on TV, there seemed to be a consensus that they were the ones the judges wanted. Next week, we see what America thinks (or, at least the smidgen of America that is still watching this show), and as we’ve seen, that can be a little unpredictable.

UPDATE: An interesting little poll on NBC’s Grease website asks what combination of Sandy and Danny viewers like most. As of 10:15 Monday night, the Max and Laura combo had 49 percent, or nearly as many votes as the other three combinations combined. Laura is the big winner, because her with either guy amounted to 72 percent of the vote. Of course, we don’t know who those voters are, and if they actually voted Sunday night.