TVSquad

Welcome back to "AI Aftermath," where we explore Idol's past. Each installment, as one more American Idol hopeful is eliminated from the competition, we take a look back at contestants past who were eliminated at the same point. We'll examine how they did on the show and what they've been up to since their eliminations. In honor of Syesha Mercado's elimination this week, we'll be looking at other fourth place finishers.

This week: 3rd place finishers, featuring featuring Nikki McKibbin (Season One), Kimberly Locke (Season Two), Jasmine Trias (Season Three), Vonzell Solomon (Season Four), Elliott Yamin (Season Five) and Melinda Doolittle (Season Six).

As you know, when American Idol is on the air, the whole world obsesses over every aspect of the show. The gossip. The scandals. What Paula's drinking. What contestants did in their pasts. And now ... which celebrities various Idol contestants look like. AOL has put together a gallery of American Idol celebrity look-alikes.

It's a pretty fun diversion, with some stunning similarities discovered. Aside from the ones that have already been brought up (Luke Menard/Orlando Bloom, Colton Berry/Ellen DeGeneres, Garret Haley/Peter Frampton), there were some particularly startling ones in there as well. Chikezie and Mekhi Phifer could be twins almost! I didn't see the Corey Clark comparison coming, though *grin*. All in all they did a pretty good job, but Jasmine Trias/Mulan? Really? No real Asian women she resembles available? Can you think of any others?

Ex-Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson was awarded the 2007 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture during tonight's award show. Even though I don't particularly like film adaptations of stage productions (don't even get me started on how much I hated Rent or The Producers), I did enjoy Dreamgirls and was blown away by Hudson's spectacular performance (both her singing and acting were incredible). She not only holds her own in a film full of major stars -- such as Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, and Jamie Foxx -- she pretty much steals the show.

The funny thing about each and every season of American Idol is the contestants with mediocre talent who continue to sail through to the next round. You know what I'm talking about. They're cute and cuddly and have oodles of personality, but they're a little short on the talent category. There's a faction of television-watching, telephone-using Americans out there who insist on keeping these people on the show while other contestants with more talent get the boot.

I have five examples of American Idol contestants who wouldn't go away:

5. Constantine Maroulis. Yeah, I said it. Constantine thought he was sexy and talented. Not an attractive characteristic on a man who only has mediocre looks and talent. Constantine regularly sang out of tune and falsely advertised himself as a rocker. He was in Rent, for crying out loud! A musical! The dude was a poser and I wanted to slap that pout right off his face. I think we all know who the true rocker was last season. (P.S. More proof he's a poser: his new album is Adult Contemporary. Watch out, Clay!)