American Idol Contestants: Behind the Scenes
Season six of American Idol debuts tomorrow - but it turns out the drama onstage is nothing compared to the soap-opera antics offstage. So explains a recently article in The New York Post.
Based on interviews with 10 past contestants from different seasons, the newspaper reveals what life is like in the American Idol dorm.
Katharine McPhee repeatedly sneaked out to visit her boyfriend. Ryan Starr spied on neighbor Jennifer Lopez's house. Scott Savol and pals made frequent trips to Hooters. And Bucky Covington says the boys' rooms were stinking pigsties.
On the other hand, Josh Gracin often cooked breakfast.
Each season, contestants who make it past the national auditions are flown to Los Angeles, where they live two to a room in a hotel. Once Simon, Paula and Randy winnow the group to 12 finalists, they're moved into private accommodations.
During the first three seasons, home was a four-story mansion on Mulholland Drive in Bel-Air. Since then, contestants have lived in a luxury apartment complex just three miles from the studio.
They are thrown together 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each is given a cellphone, but there's very little other contact with the outside world.
No visitors are allowed at work or at home, there is little freedom to come and go, they aren't allowed to drive and there's a strict curfew: 11 p.m. during the week, and midnight on the weekends.
They are surrounded by chaperones - from producers to contestant coordinators making sure the American Idols are where they need to be - and they are attended to by chefs, chauffeurs, stylists and security guards.
They have to get permission from the production and security staff to go anywhere alone - and they must have a security guard accompany them.
At the beginning, "we didn't know what to expect," says Season One seventh-place siren Ryan Starr, 25. "We didn't know there were 34 million people watching the show."
When Starr and her nine castmates - in the first season, only 10 finalists were selected instead of the 12 in later seasons - moved into the mansion, "we were like kids in a candy store," she says.
"We were running up and down the stairs, using the elevator, and we jumped in the pool with our clothes on. We had never seen a house that big."
The house, hidden behind gates, was rumored to be owned by an Indian princess.
