Following his rendition of Mariah Carey's song 'Hero', towards the end of the first performance of Fox's singing competition's eighth season, Danny Gokey, 28, won high praise from three of the show's four judges, with Kara DioGuardi proclaiming: 'You are the hero, man. You give us all hope. You were great.'

Gokey was the last to perform from a group of 12 Top 36 semi-finalists, including Stephen Fowler, Casey Carlson and Stevie Wright, the target of the judges harshest criticism, with Simon Cowell declaring they had 'zero' chance of making it to the next round.

Since, this year there are 36 semi-finalists instead of the usual 24, only the show's top three vote-getters from each group of 12 will make it to the next round, with the wild card entry deciding the last three spots.

Apart from Gokey, the judges' other favourites are:
 

• Alexis Grace, whose rendition of Aretha Franklin's 'I Never Loved a Man', showed she not only listened to what the judges said, but she also understood what they meant. Told to 'dirty herself up', instead of getting tattoos, she put a little pink in her hair, turning into an edgy though perfectly sweet 'American Idol' contestant.
• Tatiana Del Toro, who Simon called 'a complete and utter drama queen . desperate to be famous.' Her choice of Whitney Houston's 'Saving All My Love for You', wasn't perfect, but it was far better than the low bar the judges set for her, giving her a chance for a shot.
• Michael Sarver's version of Gavin DeGraw's 'I Don't Wanna Be, an 'American Idol' standard, was by no means fantastic, but it is obvious that the judges have a soft spot for the oil rig roughneck.
• Anoop Desai's 'Angel of Mine' by Monica, wasn't as memorable as his audition's 'My Prerogative', but his biggest asset is his likability and like Sarver, the goodwill they've earned in previous weeks, may well shoo them in, on a night they didn't stand out from the pack.
• Ann Marie Boskovich may possibly make it in, either here or in the wild-card round.

Of all the judges, Simon seemed the most good-natured.