For a changce, here's some Kimberly Caldwell news that does not involve her dating David Cook.
The season two American Idol finalist Kimberly Caldwell is set to host Jingles, a series that asks contestants to write and perform jingles about a wide variety of products. The show is produced by Survivor creator and reality TV show guru Mark Burnett.
No premiere date has been announced yet.
Some of our favorite American Idol also-rans appeared on Larry King last week.
The most talkative and seemingly intelligent? Bucky Covington, who's single - "A Different World" - is climbing the country charts.
Also on the show, near the end of this clip? William Hung. Apparently, the awful singer has made over $1 million so far during his post-Idol run. In other words: You don't need to sound like Sundance Head in order to bring in the bucks.
Keep those chins up, Sundance Head, Porcelana Patino and other American Idol Six contestants: Even if you don't win this season, there are big things ahead.
Just ask former, supposed losers on the show.
Bucky Covington (pictured) said he likes to think he wasn't "kicked-off" as a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol. He described it as being "invited to leave."
"I definitely got the boot, hard. But, hey, you know, the good thing about American Idol is you don't have to win it to do something with it. I think that's the biggest thing about the show is that a lot of people that don't win still end up [with entertainment] careers," Covington said during Thursday night's broadcast of CNN's Larry King Live.
Kimberly Caldwell said when she was eliminated from the second season of Idol as one its finalists, it took a while to sink in.
"When it first happened, I just thought, you know, I'll go back to the house and I'll just, you know, practice my song and come back next week and sing Cher. But that didn't happen," Caldwell told King. "So, I mean, yes, it was sad at first. It really was. And then I realized, listen, I can take this opportunity and I can make it into something for myself or I can decide to go back to Katy, Texas and sit there and try to sing at like a local pub. And that's not what I wanted for myself. So I decided to take the bigger step and stay in Los Angeles and really pursue everything."
Caldwell said she's been "really lucky" since that day she left Idol, first landing a job on Fox Sports' 54321 television show and later as co-host of the TV Guide Channel's Idol Tonight. She's also working on a "country rock" album, just filmed a movie in Vancouver and is the new spokesmodel for Michael Antonio shoes, the catalogue of which just came out and was seen by original runner-up Justin Guarini.
"It looks good. It looked very good," said Guarini about Caldwell's appearance in the catalogue.
Guarini said although he finished second to Kelly Clarkson during Idol's inaugural season, the experience was definitely worth it. He's currently working on his third album, just finished filming the movie Fast Girl and will be co-hosting the upcoming second season of Idol Tonight alongside Caldwell.
"Honestly, [American Idol] gave all of us the keys to a career. I mean you can't buy the sort of exposure that we got on that show," Guarini told King. "And, I mean, the fact that this is a reality TV show that is based on talent, not about stabbing some teammate in the back...It's not about some wacky family versus some other wacky family. It's about talent and it's about America choosing who they want to hear and see on the radio."
Former American Idol contestant Kimberly Caldwell, 24, was in Pasadena, Calif., last month to chat with TV journalists.
She's now a program host on the TV Guide Channel, but it was her past experience touring with American Idols Live in 2003 that occupied one particular Q&A session.
The Texas native dished a bit about tour accommodations. Yes, the group spends more time on buses than it does on planes hopping from concert to concert. No, they don't have to double up on hotel rooms. Then somebody asked what an Idol contestant gets paid for touring.
"I don't want to talk about that," Caldwell said.
Caldwell might have been asserting old-fashioned manners. It's not polite to talk about money, after all.
But her reticence might have had another origin -- first-year Idol contestants signed contracts that threaten $5 million fines for revealing any information relating to the series.
Since 2002, when an entertainment lawyer posted online a copy of the company's first-season Idol contract, the question of compensation for these show biz newcomers has lingered. It's natural to be curious about famous people's paychecks, and some observers of the Idol phenomenon are wondering whether the contestants are exploited -- what they may have unknowingly signed away for a shot at fame.
"American Idol is one of those things where you have to realize that you're being used for entertainment," first-season runner-up Justin Guarini told Entertainment Weekly in 2004. "And you better use it back."
With American Idols Live on the road for a fifth year, it's easy to imagine the latest crop living large. Four of this year's finalists, winner Taylor Hicks included, have signed record deals.
