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Sailor survives again on ‘Idol’

Until researchers determine a more scientific way of proving or refuting this, the only conclusion to draw Wednesday night was that Simon Cowell single-handedly gave Phil Stacey another week on “American Idol.”

Stacey was among three contestants chosen early in the episode to stand before the audience and hear whether they’d been cut, but it was false tension — host Ryan Seacrest sat them back down after only a few seconds.

Stacey, a musician third class with the Navy Band in Jacksonville, Fla., was on a three-week slump on “Idol;” Cowell and the other judges told him Tuesday that he “might have a problem” when Seacrest unveiled voters’ results the next day.

But he didn’t. Stacey will endure in the contest because of his rendition of “Tobacco Road” on Tuesday, but also because American television viewers like making Cowell be wrong.

They’ve been at it for weeks now. Voters axed the husky-voiced Sundance Head, who channeled Eddie Vedder and drew praise from Cowell and his fellow judges, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul. And as the weeks wane, voters continue keeping Sanjaya Malakar, whose “Idol” performances have been ludicrously bad and garnered nothing but pans from Cowell and company.

Cowell appears to revel in his role as the “Idol” bad guy. When it’s his turn to critique contestants, he can be biting — he told Stacey this week he belonged in a “third-division bar band,” and called one of the sailor’s earlier performances “insane.” In those instances, the audience often rains boos on Cowell.

Sometimes, he even critiques the boos.

By advancing Wednesday, Stacey now probably understands what five seasons’ worth of his “Idol” predecessors also had to learn — that their real masters are in America’s living rooms, not sitting onstage behind the red Coca-Cola cups.

The sailor sings again on March 26.

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‘Idol” sailor could be on thin ice