Despite having been hailed by Paula Abdul as "technically the best singer" in the competition, Robinson's performance of Earth, Wind and Fire's September on last week's American Idol failed to impress Simon Cowell, who commented he "didn't think it was a winning performance."

The dedicated speed dialers of America apparently agreed, throwing the least number of votes cast Robinson's way and sending the 25-year-old middle school teacher back to his Elizabeth, New Jersey, classroom.

Meanwhile, fans of the show have overrun message boards this season with commentary on Paula Abdul's seemingly wacky antics on the show.

"I'm wondering if Fox is going to address Paula's very obvious drug and/or alcohol problems," one idolonfox.com message board user posted. "It's getting harder to explain to my kids why she is acting so sloppy and slurring and incoherent."

In fact, so many users flooded the boards commenting on Abdul's apparent state of intoxication that moderators banned the use of the words "drunk" and "drugs."

After learning of the speculations, Abdul elected to address the rumors in an interview with People magazine. In the article, she denied suffering from an addiction and claims to have been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy that causes chronic pain.

Abdul, 42, said the pain began after she suffered a disc injury in a cheerleading accident at age 17 that was exacerbated by a couple of car accidents in the 1980s and a plane crash in 1992. Following the crash, she said she suffered from seizures, eating disorders and depression.

"If people only knew what I've gone through with pain and pills. I'm dancing for joy at the fact that not even a year ago I was in so much pain I could barely get up," she told People.

Abdul said she had planned to keep the disorder secret, but felt she needed to explain the truth to her fans.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent