When I say Justin Guarini, you may know exactly who I’m talking about. Or, more likely, the name brings a few fuzzy images to mind – curly hair and a gigantic smile. But you know who he is! Justin was the runner up to Kelly Clarkson on the first ever season of American Idol, and starred alongside her in the 2003 movie From Justin to Kelly. But where is he now? Read on to learn 9 facts you never wanted to know about Justin Guarini.

initiating the gallery...

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This is a guest post by Richard Rushfield, the author of American Idol: The Untold Story. For three years Richard has covered American Idol for the Los Angeles Times, writing hundreds of columns and conducting thousands of interviews with cast and crew. He is currently an entertainment columnist for The Daily Beast, a Vanity Fair contributing editor, and author of its long-running “Intelligence Report” column. For more information please visit http://www.richardrushfield.com/ and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

Idol was perhaps the first show on television to have as much of a life off the screen as on.   These days we are used to The Hills girls, Bachelor contestants, Real Housewives and Jersey Shore housemates seeing their dramas spill over from the shows that made them famous to the covers of the tabloids and the greater celeb-obsessed blogosphere.

But when Idol debuted on the US airwaves in 2002, such a phenomenon was relatively unknown.  The internet was still in its infancy and network programming was a remote, pristine world, largely untouched by the hurly burly press.

What brought Idol out of its shell was the steady stream of scandals it provided as fodder for the ravenous new media.  Each year it seemed, some gotcha shattered Idol’s peace; some disqualification brought it face to face with the public beast.

Ten years later, the stream of scandals doesn’t seem to have hurt entertainment’s greatest juggernaut.  If anything, the blow-ups have kept us all talking about the show, even when the singing got a little dull.

Here then, in order of appearance, are the ten greatest scandals of Idol’s first decade:

[Click on any scandal to get started.]

© 2011 Richard Rushfield, author of American Idol: The Untold Story

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Want to win a copy of Richard’s book? It’s easy. To enter, head over to our Facebook page and cast your vote for American Idol’s biggest star of all time. Simply open the American Idol photo album and “like” the Idol contestant’s photo of your choice to vote. Then, not only will we finally prove to the world that Clay Aiken wasn’t the biggest thing to come from Idol, but we’ll randomly draw two (2) people to take home the prize and announce them on Facebook tomorrow, January 19th, just in time for the season 10 premiere!!

Your hair is done, your makeup is on and your outfit is perfect. All you have to do is pack that wristlet and you’re ready to head out with your friends. Money? Check. ID? Check. Camera? Check.

Before you leave, you mix a few drinks and have a mini-dance party with the girls. Two rum and Diets and a few old school Britney songs later, it’s time to head out. But not without a “SELFIE!!”

You gather the girls around, make your sexy face, stick that arm out and capture the moment.

“Let me see!” your friends shriek.
“Ew. I have a double chin. One more!” So you take one more.
“Cuuuute!” everyone agrees. You put the camera back in your bag and head off to the bars.

Once there, you whip that camera out, strap it to your wrist and settle in for a night of partying. You beeline to the bar and order a round of shots. You snap a picture of them sitting on the bar, then you snap another of you and your friends cheers-ing. Then you ask the random dude standing next to you to get a picture of you taking them.

You chase the shot with a round of vodka sodas. Before you take the first sip, you ask a girl standing nearby to take a picture of you guys holding your drinks. Then, remembering how good you look, you ask your friend to get a shot of you and your drink alone.

“FACEBOOK!” you scream.

Suddenly, you hear Kelly Clarkson blaring from the DJ booth. You make your way to the dance floor, camera swinging from your wrist, to shake your rump. You do a little dance, pause, and take a picture of your friend getting humped from behind by a total shadester. Then you gather the girls together for a selfie.

“Want me to take that for you?” a nice gentleman asks.

“Nah, I love me some selfies.” You stick your arm out (and your chin up – you don’t want any double-chin action) and take the pic. Realizing you left the camera on zoom and only captured your teeth and your friend’s hair, you do it again.

“CUTE!” you all shriek.

“Ok, now let’s do ‘you just found out your boyfriend is gay’,” one friend proposes. You huddle up, stick the camera out and take the pic. Then you pass it around for everyone to admire.

“Ok, how about ‘who farted?’” another friend recommends. So you do it again. And again. And again. There is “sexy,” and “drunk,” and “your drink is empty.”

When you go to the bathroom, you snap some pictures (“SELFIE IN THE STALL!”). When you stop for pizza on the way home you snap some pictures (“SELFIE WITH A SLICE!”). When you get home and your feet are totally blistery from those heels, you snap some pictures (“Ew, our feet are gross!”).

And when you wake up in the morning, you grab your camera and flip through the ridiculousness that was last night. By the time you make it out of bed, you have 5 emails from friends begging you to post those puppies on Facebook.

Yup – been there. I don’t know what it is, but – much like a guy in a hot pair of jeans -  there is something about the alcohol/selfie combo that is just impossible to resist.

Nothing can turn a confident girl into a insecure mess faster than bathing suit season. Suddenly every mirror you look into turns into a fun house mirror of horrors. When did your stomach get so flabby and when did your skin turn translucent?

But don’t throw on your beach burqa quite yet. No matter how bad you think you look in that bikini (and it’s all in your head, obvi), these celebrities look a thousand times worse. Yes, even the sexiest of the sexy fall victim to the bikini.

[Click thumbnails to see the full hot mess image.]

When we first decided to do this whole “gossip cheat sheet” thing at CollegeCandy we never realized how appropriate that name would be. There hasn’t been a week that’s gone by since we kicked this thing off where someone in Hollywood wasn’t sticking their _______ in someone else’s ________. And this week isn’t any different.

Once again, the deets on high-profile cheating scandals are making their way out of the woodwork. Sandy is minus a wedding ring, and Elin is on her way to Sweden. So where is Shawn Southwick (Larry King’s wife) heading? To the divorce lawyer.

The good news is there’s a little more going on in the Hollywood Hills this week than all that whoring around, like advertising scandals (oooooo!), arrests (ahhhhh!), and hospitalizations (oooooyyyyy). Let’s see if I can narrow it down for you.

“Important” Things

1. Michael Douglas’s son, Cameron Douglas, was sentenced to five years in prison for dealing crystal meth and cocaine, despite the heartfelt pleas of his father, grandfather, and stepmother, Catherine Zeta-Jones. Cameron faced up to ten years, but only received five after pleading guilty and apologizing to Judge Richard Berman. He was arrested last July and had been selling meth and cocaine since 2006. Hopefully he’ll learn his lesson and get his life straightened out.

2. Kelly Clarkson is under fire this week for appearing on a billboard advertising her concert in Jakarta, Indonesia, alongside cigarette brand, L.A. Lights. The concert is sponsored by the company and people are getting their panties in a twist because they feel the pop-star is advocating smoking. Kelly has come out saying she does not advocate smoking and feels her only option is to cancel the concert, but “I refuse to cancel on my fans.” People just need to chill out; just because her face is on an billboard that she didn’t even know about doesn’t mean she’s telling everyone to buy cigarettes, sheesh! But it looks like all the hullabaloo has had an affect; in the midst of all the controversy, L.A. Lights has pulled out of its sponsorship and is removing all billboards.

3. Heather Locklear was arrested this weekend after running into a no parking sign and then fled the scene of the accident. Girlfriend is still on probation from a reckless driving charge in 2008, so if she’s found guilty, she’s facing 90 days in prison. Here’s my message to Heather: get a driver it together, lady! In recent updates, Heather will not be charged with a hit-and-run because there’s not even enough evidence that she was behind the wheel. Lucky break, Heather, but seriously stop being such a hot mess.

4. In the Larry King cheating scandal, it’s been revealed that his wife Shawn Southwick was having an affair with her kids’ baseball coach, Hector Penate. Apparently two can play at the cheating game. While sources this week are reporting that Shawn only married Larry for his money (shocking to no one), she probably won’t get any if she was cheating too.

5. OK! magazine is reporting that Angie and Brad are getting married for their children. I think I just heard Jennifer Aniston’s heart break. Rumor has it that the kids are begging their parents to get married, and “Pax thinks it would just be the coolest thing ever to be a ring bearer.” Caitlin thinks it would be the coolest thing ever if it were a Brad/Jen wedding. But that’s just me.

Other Shizz

1. Rihanna went to the hospital on Monday in Switzerland and people freaked out. RiRi’s rep said she “had an injured rib” and wanted to get it checked out as a precaution, so everyone CALM YO’SELF.

2. Kate Gosselin was voted off Dancing With The Stars. Finally! Now she can head on home and tend to her litter.

3. Snooki and her boyfriend Emilio broke up because he’s a fame whore. Snooks was seen hooking up with The Situation (!!!) a few hours earlier. No word on what’s going on there, but I can guarantee he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

4. Glee got fantastic ratings after the much anticipated Madonna episode with 13.5 million viewers! Creator Ryan Murphy said they are in talks with Madonna to do another themed episode next season. Yay!

5. This week, Christina Hendricks and her scorching hot bod are everywhere, so enjoy her sexiness.

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Kelly Clarkson’s hawking cigarettes…sorta.

You guessed it… American Idol.

From the very first season, American Idol was an instant hit.  Kelly Clarkson was the winner, and albums later, she is still a pop sensation.  By the start of season 2, Randy, Paula, and Simon became household names and it was impossible to escape references to these eccentric judges.   Each season the show attracted more and more viewers and had record breaking numbers of votes at each finale.  The economy may suck, the weather is more unpredictable than ever, but the one thing we could always count on as a society was the stability of American Idol.  We knew that no matter what, every Tuesday and Wednesday night, we could tune into FOX to hear Randy give shot-outs to his “dawgs” while Paula applauded each contestant for being unique and “making the song their own.”  And finally, we knew Simon would always be there to knock them right back down in his English accent with a black t-shirt from Baby Gap.

That is… until last season, when things started to change.  A fourth judge? America was reluctant.  Kara Dioguardi climbed on board as America was forced to accept the adjustment.  She was cute and seemed to know what she was talking about, so we gave her the OK.  As long as we still had the Simon and Ryan rivalry to look forward to, one extra judge would not cramp our Idol style. 

Little did we know, even BIGGER changes for this season.  Goodbye to Paula?? Now who are we going to accuse of doing random drugs before (and maybe during) the show?? It was almost more than we could handle.  And then FOX announced that Ellen DeGeneres would be replacing her.  Personally, I was torn.  Ellen is hilarious, that is for sure…but Cold Hearted Snake and Forever Your Girl will ALWAYS be on my iTunes top 25 most played songs; there’s just no replacing Paula.  Putting my own love for the scat cat aside, I accepted the change once again.  After all, Simon, Randy, and Kara would still be able to offer legitimate criticism from the music industry’s stand point, Ellen would just be there for entertainment value.  Even if FOX were just trying to get some rating points, you can’t help but love Ellen.

But then.
Oh God.
I can’t even bear to say it.

Simon announced he was leaving.

And to make matters worse, rumors are now swirling that HOWARD STERN could be taking his place.

[Breathe.]

I don’t even know what to say. This is just taking things too far.  Sorry (well, sorta) to knock the Stern, but what the hell does he know about music and producing it? Probably…nothing.  Sure he may be a radio host, but that does not mean he is qualified for the coveted job.  Especially since the guy hasn’t played music on his show in decades. Besides, no one wants to hear crude and belittling comments if they’re not done in an English accent. Or have nothing to do with music and focus on the singer’s tits and ass instead.

If the rumors are true, I’ve lost whatever faith I had in FOX. It seems that they’re willing to do anything just to boost their ratings, even if it jeopardizes the integrity of the show. (One of the only reality shows left with any…) FOX is making it clear that Idol is all about the ratings and not about the talent, and if that’s the case, why should we watch?

Well, besides to see Kara and Howie duke it out.

Waaaaah (Snooki voice). It seems our once trusted source for music’s newest breakthrough stars might soon fall through the trashy TV cracks and land right next to the ever-so-classy “Temptation Island.” As a long-time Idol addict, I won’t stand for it.