Unlike Dorothy, Nicholas David (Mrozinski) did not get sent home after singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The woolly bearded and burly voiced Twin Cities singer -- newly dubbed "The Pride of Eagan" by Carson Daly -- made the cut as one of the show's final four contestants on Tuesday night. He performed a passionate version of the song made famous by fellow Minnesotan Judy Garland on Monday as well as a breezy (and less impressive) rendition of Earth, Wind & Fire's "September."
It felt like we were going to have to wait till next September to finally hear the results, but Melanie Martinez and Amanda Brown got the axe instead of Nick. In the interim, he got more prime screen time singing Fiona Apple's "Criminal" as a duet with Martinez as well as joining guest coach Rob Thomas for Matchbox Twenty's "Overjoyed."
Mrozinski also turned in one of the few amusing comments of the night when he said of the final six contestants, "We have become a family in doing this, with all the hours we've spent together, all the tears we've cried, all the farts, everything." Daly's response: "T.M.I."
As one of the top four, Mrozinski will bring the TV cameras back home to the Twin Cities later this week -- his first trip home since the live rounds started in early October. A public reception is planned for him Thursday morning in the Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe (11 a.m. at "The Patio," located in the southwest corner of the amusement park).
