By MICHELLE BESAW and LUCAS BLAISE
PLATTSBURGH — After several weeks of competing on "American Idol," Malone teen Nate Marshall McGee was eliminated from the hit TV show Wednesday night.
McGee, 19, faced a chance at getting picked to come back and perform in tonight's Wild Card round but didn't make the final cut.
McGee began his "American Idol" experience in New York City, where he auditioned for the highly popular singing competition. He moved on to the next round after succeeding in the group auditions and then beat out competitor Jackie Midkiff of Maryville, Tenn., in a sing-off challenge.
Social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have boasted groups in support of McGee and his quest to become the country's next star vocalist.
The show's notoriously sarcastic judge, Simon Cowell, has picked at McGee's style, such as when he donned red, skintight pants and wore spiky hair, and an online post by a girl named Frances on american-idol-updates.com calls him "Drama!"
"But as soon as you are asked to sing, WOW! Totally confident and talented while singing! Try to be that guy all the time!!!! PLEASE!" the post continued.
"I think I am a little crazy upstairs," McGee said in a video on the FOX show's Web site. "I'm a very loud personality that tends to stand out."
Since being on the show, McGee has revealed his childhood struggle, being raised by his grandmother while his mother was incarcerated.
During Tuesday night's show, with his grandmother and aunt in the audience, McGee sang "I Would Do Anything for Love" by Meatloaf, a song he and his mom used to sing and dance to.
Nearly two years ago, McGee received third place in Plattsburgh's Mayor's Cup Idol.
