Praising the 'American Idol' Experience

April 22 -- Three years ago, R.J. Helton was just 19, living in Cummings, Ga., singing and dreaming big dreams. Then all of a sudden, he was famous.

"Every magazine that I picked up, I would look at my face," he told Primetime's Cynthia McFadden "I'd be like, 'I'm in this magazine!'"

Tamyra Gray was 23. She had been trying to break into show business for a decade. And then the fairy tale came true for her, too. But, she says, "The fame isn't as important as the singing — the fame is a bonus."

Kimberley Locke, from Hartsville, Tenn., was also in her early 20s. She had packed away her dream of singing and headed off to law school. Then — "All of a sudden, I become part of this show, and everyone knows my name. Not only do they know my name, they know my life."

Helton, Gray and Locke are three of the 22 singers who became finalists during the first two seasons of Fox TV's American Idol, the runaway hit show that offered amateurs a shot at a record deal.

They beat incredible odds — competing among 160,000 entrants — and went careening into the living rooms of 30 million viewers a week.

But they also failed to win the big prize And if that wasn't tough enough, they also learned that their time in the limelight would have a real effect on their lives.

The Gremlin in the Dreamworks

Having your life open to criticism is not always a dream come true, especially if the villain in your fairy tale is Simon Cowell, the most critical of American Idol's judges.

Helton, whose musical experience was limited to the kinder world of Christian music, came under particular attack early in the first season.

Cowell called him a "loser" and "average." Cowell said Helton was only advancing because of "the sympathy vote. It has nothing to do with talent."

Months after the experience, Helton told McFadden, "I remember feeling like I was going to vomit. Constructive criticism is one thing. Being just cruel is another."