Freedomtown IC

( In Which Dreams Are Realized )

In a departure from the typical typical opening, the first part of the finals opened cold to a shot of the finalists, Olive Penderghast and Queen Barb, both dressed in cute, yet sexy little Santa dresses, with knee-high black boots, black spiked choker collars, and elbow-length black gloves.

With the backing band playing behind them, the two best friends opened up the show with a fun, hard-rocking Christmas song, "Santa Claus Is Back In Town".

After the end of the song, Ben walked out onto the stage, wearing jeans, sneakers, and a Van Halen-themed Christmas sweater. He shook hands with both women, before walking up to the microphone.

"Ladies and Gentlemen... welcome to the Season 2 finale of Universal Idol! We started with 13 hopefuls, and now we are down to the final two. First, let's say hello once more to our judges... Rachelle Martin-Bale, Meredith Delany, Kyle Sutherland, and Kayla Barnes!"

After giving each judge a quick closeup, the camera went back to Ben, who finished bringing everyone up to date on where we began, and where we are right now.

Clips of each of the final three performers opened the show, highlighting each of their journeys to the semifinals.

After lining all three up on the stage, Ben congratulated each being sure to sincerely tell them that he has become a true fan of all three of them.

He then announced that going home this week would be... Alex Manes-Guerin.

The finals would be the Battle of the Best Friends: Olive Penderghast vs. Queen Barb!

A short promotional video started off the show, with close-up photos of each of the remaining three singers. Ben's voice could be heard narrating as music played in the background.

"Week after week of close calls with voting. Of highs and lows. Of some of the most inspired performances we've seen yet. After all this, we are down to three candidates for your next Universal Idol."

"This week, Alex Manes-Guerin, Queen Barb, or Olive Penderghast will be sent home, and we will find out who will be competing next week, right here, in the Season 2 Finals."

After a montage of clips featuring each remaining performer working with their mentor for the week, then clips of the resulting performances and critiques, Ben rounded up the remaining four performers, and announced this week's elimination: Spencer Quill.

This week, the show began with a voiceover:

"For the last six weeks, we've watched our performers have to fend for themselves, and prove that they're not only talented, but also survivors. This week... they learn to combine taking guidance with knowing what's best for them as we enter Mentors Week."

Then, photos of each performer and mentor began to be shown on the screen.

"This week, we'll see Olive Penderghast mentored by Bad Reputation's Ginnifer Callaway. Alex Manes-Guerin mentored by Eternal Embrace's Kaitlin Crowe. Queen Barb mentored by Scream Queens' Skylar Bale. And Spencer Quill mentored by A Woman Scorned's Morgan Raleigh."

(Starting this week, the remaining eliminations will be voted on by you! Between Tuesday, Dec. 1st at 11pm EST and Thursday, Dec. 3rd at 11pm, each player in the game will be allowed to send ONE email to Dan, stating which performer they would choose to keep in the competition. At 11pm on Dec. 3rd, whoever has the least amount of votes will be eliminated!)

After the usual opening, video segments were played showing each of the remaining contestants paths to this point so far. From their auditions to the judges' first reactions to them, to how they performed this week.

Eventually, all five performers were brought out onstage, with Ben walking out to address the fans.

"Each week, we're consistently getting more and more votes than we did even last season... and this week was no exception. One thing that was a bit different though... we had the closest voting race we've EVER had this week. Only 1 few hundred votes separated the highest vote-getter from the lowest. All of you should be incredibly proud of yourselves, and of the impression you made on our audience and judges."

"Unfortunately... one of you must be eliminated regardless. And this week... the performer going home will be... Neveah Dean-Ramirez."

The show kicked off with highlights of last week's duets, the unprecedented quality of each performance, and clips of the judges being blown away by all six singers.

A clip was shown of Rachel Berry being eliminated, complete with her now-former "arch-nemesis" Rachelle Martin-Bale giving her a standing ovation after her name was called.

Benjamin Bale then walked out to begin the live broadcast, giving the audience a quick rundown of the five performers that remained, before introducing each of the judges. Like Rachelle had said on the network earlier in the day, she indeed was in celebratory mode, her section of the table covered in a Terrible Towel, a Steelers pennant, and a black-and-gold End Zone banner, advertising both of it's locations. And of course, Rachelle herself was wearing black-and-gold spandex leggings with a Chase Claypool jersey and a Steelers cap on her head, giving a cheesy double thumbs-up to the camera as it passed her.

Duets week had unexpectedly brought the best yet out of all six remaining contestants, but unfortunately one still had to go.

After comments from each of the judges, Ben himself, and a few of Full Moon's performers who'd been following the show, Ben finally took the stage to announce that this week's elimination would be... Rachel Berry.