You have to wonder how big a bag of money Barenaked Ladies were given to be on Canadian Idol.

In a 2003 Edmonton Sun interview, singer Ed Robertson derided Idol talent contests in general as "backwards and counterproductive," but there he was with his boys, grinning and clapping through Tuesday's Barenaked Ladies theme episode. The giddy pop-meisters also spent a day coaching the three remaining contestants through their chosen songs, two of which were selected from one of the band's least successful albums, Born on a Pirate Ship.

It was weird on so many levels.

The history of pop music is riddled with ill-advised decisions based on money - the Tea Party taking a gig opening for Def Leppard and Nickelback playing a heavy metal festival in Portugal are but two Canadian examples - and, as these things go, the Ladies on Canadian Idol wasn't nearly as horrible as their stint hosting the Juno awards, but still. Perhaps it appealed to their sense of irony.

Oh, yeah, to the surprise of no one, Aaron Walpole was eliminated last night. The teddy bear-shaped void left in his wake means that Newfoundland's Rex Goudie and Calgary's Melissa O'Neil will battle it out for the championship next week - guy vs. girl, west vs. east, real singer vs. a guy whose "radical inability to sing is going to come back to haunt you," as judge Zack Werner so aptly put it. Zack, you rock my world.

Vote for the Worst (www.votefortheworst.com) is now backing "TrainRex Shoutie" and hopes that "with our help, the Newfoundlanders and delusional teenybopper girls may get the tiny push they need to help secure Rex's win."

One can almost feel guilty supporting a campaign to get the worst singer ever to win Canadian Idol. But they have machines to fix bad singing these days, so it's a moot point.

It was vexing to watch Rex's first performance on Tuesday night, a rendition of Brian Wilson - and he was actually good! What the heck is happening here and what have you done with the real Rex? He was relaxed, in tune, pleasant, even soulful. Jake Gold described the performance as the "most fluid, most musical yet." Even the Barenaked Ladies gave the performance a standing ovation. Rex reverted to his awful old ways in his second, Call and Answer - his lower range is particularly dreadful - drawing the aforementioned "radical inability to sing" comment. There was no Barenaked standing ovation this time. The only theory I can come up with is that Rex was wearing his lucky white baseball cap in the first song, and not in the second.

Both he and Aaron, however, sported the same magic facial hair that has marked this entire season of Canadian Idol - and it didn't help Aaron this time.

For his first number, the big guy belted out Break Your Heart and unleashed a series of 'nad-busting notes so intense it was scary, and again not in a good way. He's done this before. Sass Jordan called it: "You took a Star Search moment and made a marathon out of it." Indeed. His second song, Enid, was delivered with all the cheesy musical theatre camp he tried so hard to shed. It proved to be his doom. Maybe Aaron will find a career in a bombastic blues band. Have I suggested this already?

Saving the best for last, Melissa O'Neil really deserves to win this thing. Both her songs revealed talent, soul and an emerging style that could blossom into something truly special. She's only 17, remember. That special thing would probably be ruined by the Canadian Idol record producers - should she win - but until next Tuesday's 90-minute episode when both Rex and Melissa sing the new Canadian Idol single, Alive, we can bask in this one precious moment.