‘American Idol’ fans send Kayko back to the ocean on Top 10 night

The Top 10 performance episode of “American Idol” Season 22 aired on Sunday, April 28 on ABC, with the finalists giving it their all in front of host Ryan Seacrest and judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. Viewers all across the nation voted nearly 21 million times throughout the two-hour episode, as guest mentor Shania Twain helped the contestants with their song choices from the years of their birth. In the end, only the Top 8 artists made it to the next round, with Kayko and Mia Matthews both being eliminated. (Kayko is not to be confused with Keiko, the whale star of the 1993 film “Free Willy,” although he will now be returning to his home along the ocean in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.)

Throughout the competition, Kayko warbled tunes like “Time of Your Life” (Auditions round), “Gives You Hell” (Showstopper round), “How to Live Without You” (Top 24 round), “Over You” (Top 20, Part 1 round), “What If?” (Top 20, Part 2 round), “High & Dry” (Top 14 round), “Somebody That I Used to Know” (Top 12 round) and “Teenage Dirtbag” (Top 10 round). The 23-year-old songwriter and producer was an accidental “Idol” contestant, as he was only supposed to be doing a piano accompaniment for his friend’s audition — and the rest is history.

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Following Kayko’s Top 10 performance, Luke praised him for “keeping people guessing” and channeling a new rock star persona, Lionel remarked on how he appeared to be having “the greatest time” up on the stage, and Katy reflected on his “weird” journey being that he only “came in to accompany another person.”

SEE ‘American Idol 22’ predictions: Now YOU can predict who will win and who’ll be voted out next

The eight singers who heard good news on Sunday night were Jack Blocker, McKenna Faith Breinholt, Abi Carter, Julia Gagnon, Triston Harper, Kaibrienne, Will Moseley and Emmy Russell. Next up, each of these contestants will perform on Monday, April 29 in the “Judges’ Song Contest” episode.

Since ABC earned the rights to air “American Idol” in 2018, the winners have consisted of Maddie Poppe (Season 16), Laine Hardy (Season 17), Just Sam (Season 18), Chayce Beckham (Season 19), Noah Thompson (Season 20) and Iam Tongi (Season 21). Who will be next singer to join the show’s iconic winners list?

Be sure to make your predictions to influence our reality TV racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs on ABC. You’ll compete to win eternal bragging rights and a spot on our “American Idol 22” leaderboard. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.

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