Cowell labeled the final between Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks as being a contest between a "brilliant entertainer" and a "great singer." The British music mogul said it was a tough call to predict the winner. Last week when Doolittle was booted off, Cowell appeared unusually subdued and aside from a pre-functionary "Congratulations to you two," he did not comment at all on the two final contestants.

It was no different when he spoke to reporters during a conference call. "For Blake, he's a brilliant entertainer, but the negative is he's not a fantastic singer," Cowell observed. "The advantage for Jordin is she is a great singer and the negative is she hasn't done one performance yet which I can remember as a 'wow.'"

Cowell was also very frank during the call saying he wanted contestants to get back at him for making acerbic comments on their performances. He added that they need not fear being voted off if they are rude to him. He was disappointed for Melinda Doolittle because he felt she was the best singer over the last 10 weeks, but he also recognized that she might not have been the teen's pop fantasy.

Cowell, who was stunned by the long Idol run of Sanjaya Malakar, said he was amused by it in hindsight. "The whole Sanjaya thing was hysterical. I don't think I'd be happy if he was in the final, but looking back I think it was quite amusing."

Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis will battle it out on Tuesday, while the "American Idol" number six will be announced on Wednesday.