American Idol cut five of the Top 20 twelfth-season female contestants -- and Top 40 overall -- during Wednesday night's Fox broadcast of the initial Las Vegas Round eliminations.

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Five female contestants were sent home from American Idol's twelfth season after 10 of the 20 remaining women took the stage and performed any song of their choice in any genre for judges Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban, and Randy Jackson.

After hearing from all the singers, the judges had to determine which ladies should be ousted from the competition, and if the vote ended in a 2-2 tie, music producer Jimmy Iovine would have the final say and serve as the tie-breaking vote.

The five women cut following the "sudden death round" in Las Vegas were Jenny Beth Willis, a 17-year-old from Owensboro, KY; Brandy Hotard, a 26-year-old from Port Allen, LA; Shubha Vedula, a 17-year-old from Mt. Pleasant, MI; Kamaria Ousley, a 29-year-old from Oakland, CA; and Isabelle Pasqualone, a 22-year-old from Duluth, GA.

The five female contestants who made it into the season's Top 10 girls and Top 20 semifinalists overall were Tenna Torres, a 28-year-old from Queens, NY; Adriana Latonio, a 17-year-old from Anchorage, AK; Kree Harrison, a 22-year-old from Nashville, TN; Angela Miller, an 18-year-old from Beverly, MA; and Amber Holcomb, an 18-year-old from Houston, TX.

The Las Vegas Round will continue for three more episodes until the phase ends on Thursday, February 28. Similar to last night's broadcast, each of the three episodes to come will feature a group of 10 contestants performing and then the judges eliminating five hopefuls.

The remaining set of 10 women will be shown during next Wednesday night's episode, while the men will be featured singing for survival tonight and next Thursday night. The Las Vegas Round will therefore conclude with 20 semifinalists moving on.

Once those 20 semifinalists are all revealed, similar to last season, American Idol will air back-to-back live semifinals performance shows which will feature the first group of 10 semifinalists on Tuesday, March 5 and the second group of 10 semifinalists on Wednesday, March 6. A live results show announcing the season's finalists will then air on Thursday, March 7.

The five male and five female semifinalists who receive the most home viewer votes will automatically advance to Idol's twelfth-season finals. In a departure from last season, the judges will not have the opportunity to each select a "Wild Card" pick to join America's chosen Top 10.   

Once the finalists are determined, American Idol's first twelfth-season performance show will then air on Wednesday, March 13 and feature the finalists singing for home viewer votes. One finalist will then be eliminated the following night during the season's first live elimination results show.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.