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Sideshow: 'Idol' boots 'ineligible' Philly idol

Another year, another American Idol tempest: Nearly 25 million people saw Mayfair's Joanna Pacitti make it to the top 36 on the talent show - but in fact her dream had been snatched away.

Another year, another

American Idol

tempest: Nearly 25 million people saw Mayfair's

Joanna Pacitti

make it to the top 36 on the talent show - but in fact her dream had been snatched away.

Fox announced early yesterday, after the West Coast airing of Wednesday's show, that Pacitti, 24, was "ineligible to continue in the competition."

The Hollywood round was taped about three weeks ago, and Fox chose not to edit her out. Felicia Barton was named to replace her.

Internet scolds had questioned Pacitti's participation because of her former record deals and because she lived in the same building as two execs with 19 Entertainment, the company that produces Idol.

A rep with 19 Entertainment said Pacitti was not doing interviews.

- Michael Klein

Aussies Kidman, Urban pitch in

Australia's royal couple,

Nicole Kidman

and husband

Keith Urban

, who are out of the country, appeared by satellite link on a live appeal yesterday on Australian TV to benefit the victims of the fires in Victoria, which have killed more than 180 people.

"Our hearts go out tonight to all the families that are dealing with the loss of loved ones and having to rebuild their lives again," Urban said.

The couple also donated $300,000 to the Red Cross appeal, which featured appearances by more than 150 entertainers, politicians and sports stars, including Russell Crowe, Miranda Kerr, Orlando Bloom, Hugh Jackman, Anthony La Paglia, Rachel Griffiths and Simon Baker.

A can of whoop for Jack Bauer?

Is severe injury -

or death?

- in store for

Kiefer Sutherland

's superhero, Jack Bauer, next season on Fox's

24

? Kiefer hints as much, telling Entertainment Weekly, "This guy has never come out of one of these days unscathed. . . . Staking out the moral high ground is expensive, and you're going to pay for it."

We hope the price isn't too high, Jack.

EW says season seven will also feature a serious smackdown between Mary Lynn Rajskub's techno-geek-babe Chloe and the FBI's equally geekalicious Janis, played by Janeane Garofalo.

More TV deaths? The Edie Britt case

How will

Desperate Housewives

get rid of

Nicolette Sheridan

's ultra-sexualized troublemaker Edie Britt? ABC says the 45-year-old Brit-born Nic is being written out, but won't say how.

Here's one possibility. (Spoiler alert.)

E!Online's in-house surrealist Ted Casablanca, famed for his stream-of-consciousness celeb blather, says sources tell him Edie will narrowly escape being murdered by her loving hubby, Dave Williams (Neal McDonough), only to be felled in an accident "involving her car and an electrical wire." (Electricity could be sexy, I guess.)

'Twilight' helmer: I quit!

Twilight

director

Catherine Hardwicke

says rumors the studio fired her from the vamp sequel,

New Moon

, are false. CH, whose

Twilight: Director's Notebook

is due out later this year, tells Entertainment Weekly that Summit Entertainment offered her a gigantic salary, but she turned it down because the sequel has been given a miserly budget. "I was devastated," she says. "I really did feel a strong connection to the people around the world that liked the movie. . . . But I just didn't think I could make a good movie under those circumstances."

Downloading Slim Shady

Take this,

Britney

!

Eminem

's comeback is successful! His new track, "Crack a Bottle," which also features

Dr. Dre

and

50 Cent

, has set a new record for digital downloads. Billboard says the song sold 418,000 downloads in its first week. The previous record of 335,000 was set in October by

T.I.

and

Rihanna

's "Live Your Life."

Morrissey: No way back home

Oscar Wilde

's spiritual heir

Morrissey

says it's futile to ask him to eschew the future in favor of a temporal phase that is no more. In other words, the 49-year-old singer says he will never get back together with his '80s outfit,

The Smiths

, since he's "not stuck in the past."

M. tells BBC Radio 2, "People always ask me about reunions, and I can't imagine why. It baffles me."

Limp Bizkit reuniting

Limp Bizkit

says all five original members - including tattoo-artist-turned-rock-dude and amateur porn star

Fred Durst

- are reuniting for a new album and a world tour in the spring. Formed in Florida in '95, LB split in '04, three years after guitarist

Wes Borland

bailed.

Where there's a tummy bump, there's . . .

London's Daily Mail says

Kate Moss

, 35, who has been snapped with a bump on her tum, has told pals she's expecting her first baby with her boyfriend of 18 months,

Jamie Hince

, 40. The model, whose contribution to Western civ includes the heroin-chic weltanschauung, has a daughter,

Lila Grace

, 7, with ex

Jefferson Hack

.

Madonna makes money

Madonna

, who made $242.2 mil last year, tops Billboard's Moneymakers List, which tracks revenue from albums, concerts, ringtones and digital tracks. Jersey boys

Bon Jovi

($157.2 mil) and

Bruce Springsteen

($156.3 mil) follow far behind, while

The Police

($110 mil) and

Celine Dion

($99.2 mil) round out the top five.

.