Rounds, Desai sent home on “Idol”

LOS ANGELES — Lil Rounds has some comfort in being kicked off “American Idol”: Her husband got her a puppy.

Rounds and Anoop Desai were eliminated this week during “Disco Week.” The double elimination was because the judges used their save to keep Matt Giraud last week. Five contestants are left.

Rounds, who had sung “I’m Every Woman,” explained to her three children that her run on the show is over and she will be coming home to take them to the park with the puppy.

“They’re still so very very proud of their mommy,” she said in a teleconference.

She gave the biggest goodbye hug to Allison Iraheta, who is the last woman in the competition. “We were crying like, of course, two girls,” Rounds said.

Desai thought he might be leaving this week, but all the contestants thought that about themselves. “It’s amazing how many people out of that group were sure that they were going home,” he said.

He thought the easiest song for him to sing in the competition was “Dim All the Lights” — after he got the bad news.

“There’s something about the burden of having four people sitting in front of you that you know are your harshest critics,” he said. “With that burden relieved, I was free to sing the song with personality.”