" American Idol [ tickets ]" contestant Michael Sarver, who was eliminated from the show last Thursday (3/26), is adamant about not immediately returning to his oil rig job. He wants to be in the best shape he can for this summer's tour with the rest of the Top 10 finalists.

"No. 1, I will not be going back to the oil rig," Sarver said during a teleconference after his elimination last week. "I don't think it would be a great idea to get out there and take a chance on hurting myself and not being available for the tour. But I'm going home and I'm going to take some time off to spend with my family. I believe they deserve my undivided attention for a little while and that's exactly what they're going to get."

Sarver's family situation was made famous when the "American Idol" finalist told viewers that his daughter wanted to know "Why haven't you come home yet?"

"I think McKenna's outlook on it, she's excited about seeing her daddy on TV, but the one thing that a 3-and-a-half-year-old little girl understands is that I'm not home," said Sarver, who last sang "Ain't Too Proud To Beg." "Right now, that's what I'm going to focus on, is getting home and making sure that she knows I love her. And we know that later on in life when she's a little older, she'll fully understand, but I do know that she was absolutely excited to see me everyday and I hear she replayed the DVR quite a bit all the time."