I am definitely somewhat shocked by tonight's results, but can see how it could have happened. I know my own response last night was to vote for Haley instead of Pia, since I thought Pia was safe and Haley was not. I have a feeling many other people acted the same way that I did in voting for the ones they thought needed votes instead of who was "safe". My guess is this will make it even harder now for anyone else to beat Scotty this year, since his fans will now have the "Pia Scare" to keep them voting for him relentlessly. They can all chant "remember what happened to Pia" and vote for him nonstop for hours on their unlimited AT&T text messaging plans.
With Pia's elimination and Jacob's stint in the bottom 3, there are now only 3 contestants this season who have never been in the bottom 3: James, Lauren and Scotty. There is a good chance they will now be the final 3, unless another "Pia-esque" moment occurs in the next few weeks.
I will have to admit I really liked Pia after her initial "Stand By Me" performance, but after the last few weeks my impression of her had faded. I was hoping she could improve her performances and show more excitement and personality, but that never really happened. And over that same time period my positive impression of Lauren has also diminished, so the only remaining female I like is Haley, and I get really tired of her overuse of the "growl". So much for the year of a female American Idol winner...