To widen the pool of untapped talent, "American Idol" producers made the bold decision going into season ten to lower the minimum age requirement to enter the Fox competition to 15.
The rule change paid off in a major way on Thursday, when Lauren Alaina, who was 15 when she auditioned last summer, earned enough votes to push through to the final two.
Also read: 'American Idol': Votes Record for a Non-Finale Is Shattered
Alaina may have turned 16 in November but can nonetheless boast that she is the youngest contestant ever to appear in the final two, bumping third-season runner-up Diana DeGarmo from that honor.
Whether the Georgia youngster can become the popular reality program's youngest-ever champion — Jordin Sparks, who was 17 when she won season six, currently holds that record — will be decided in the two-part finale next Tuesday and Wednesday. But she'll have to get through old man McCreery first.
Okay, so Scotty McCreery is no geezer. At 17 and change, he's just a junior in high school — and still fresh-faced enough that it's not weird that everyone calls him Scotty.
Regardless of who claims the crown, Alaina and McCreery are the youngest pair ever to square off in the finals. Breaking it down to months and days, their combined age is just over 34, more than two years fewer than third-season finalists DeGarmo and Fantasia Barrino — and even slightly below season five winner Taylor Hicks' current age.
Hicks is their dad, basically.