Booted American Idol Janelle Arthur: I ‘Knew’ I was Going Home

Janelle Arthur got booted from “American Idol” on Thursday night and the elimination didn’t come as much of a surprise to the singer.

“Oh yeah – I knew [it was coming],” she told AccessHollywood.com’s Laura Saltman following the elimination. “I knew it and I told Kree [Harrison] — her hands were sweating so bad — and I was like, ‘Girl, don’t you dare be nervous!’ I was like, ‘You’re not going home, this is my time to go home.’”

The 23-year-old country crooner, who sang The Supremes’ “Keep Me Hangin’ On” in attempt to earn the judges’ save, even told crew members she knew she wasn’t going to make the cut.

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“I told the cameras before I went out there, they said, ‘Do you think they’re going to use the save?’ And I said, ‘I think that if one of the other girls goes home, that they will use to save. But if I go home, they will not use the save.’”

Adding, “And I happened to be right.”

Judge Mariah Carey – who fought to keep Janelle on the show – told Laura she believes Janelle has something special.

“I feel Janelle adds something special to this group and look, the group has to continue to dwindle down [and] I understand that,” Mariah told Laura. “It’s just that I really, there’s something very — there’s a spark in her that’s rare because you know what it is? It’s a quality of somebody who has a genuine heart.”

— Erin O’Sullivan