MANILA, Philippines - Now for a reality check. Four ?American Idol? contestants got the boot on Friday: Danny Noriega, Luke Menard, Asiah Epperson and Kady Malloy.

Filipino-American Ramiele Malubay made it to the Top 12, but cried buckets because of friend Noriega?s elimination.

Eluding the ax was David Hernandez, who figured in a major scandal this week.

Turned out, he wasn?t just a gymnast; he also did some fancy footwork as a stripper in the Phoenix gay bar Dick?s Cabaret for three years.

Sex scandals are nothing new in AI.

In 2003, contestant Frenchie Davis appeared topless on an adult web site; in 2007, aspirant Antonella Barba?s sexy photos also made it online.

Davis was sacked, but Barba remained in the contest.

The big question: Would Hernandez go the way of Davis or Barba?

TV Guide.com says Hernandez won?t get disqualified over the controversy. The web site quoted executive producer Ken Warwick as saying: ?We?re never judgmental about what people do to earn a living.?

Warwick, however, pointed out that Hernandez?s fate rests on the voting public.

Hernandez?s ?terpsichorean? past was first reported on the anti-Idol web site votefortheworst.com, which also posted a photo showing the ?scantily clad? lad, with drag queens.

Confirmed

The rumor has since been confirmed by wire reports that quoted the bar?s manager Gordy Bryan as saying that Hernandez ?would appear fully nude and perform lap dances for the club?s mostly male clientele.?

It was reported that he had worked at the club until his ?Idol? audition in September 2007. When the news was verified, votefortheworst.com posted this message: ?We have no problem with David stripping... [but] he shouldn?t lie about it and pretend he?s straight.?

Technically, Hernandez didn?t lie; it just wasn?t disclosed to viewers. On AI?s web site, he said in a video interview that he used to ?sell knives [and] acted in an independent movie.?

In another video interview, fellow contestant Carly Smithson inadvertently outed Hernandez by saying: ?You?re so metro[sexual]!?

After Hernandez?s revelation that he had been living out of his car, an incredulous Smithson blurted, ?How could you survive? This guy looks more [often] in the mirror than [I do].?

In the same interview, when Smithson repeated the ?metro? tag, Hernandez responded: ?Absolutely. I can own that.?

Hernandez also admitted to acting in musicals and idolizing Alicia Keys and the Dixie Chicks ? ?female singers who [push] the envelope.? In this week?s performance show, he sang Meatloaf/Celine Dion?s ?It?s All Coming Back To Me Now??a favorite of pole dancers.

With reports from Associated Press

(E-mail: bayanisandiego@hotmail.com)