American Idol/Characters
Due to the show having many contestants, this page is made to avoid overdosing the main page.
The AI Crew
Ryan Seacrest (Season 1-present)
- Bishounen
- Breakup Breakout: With his Season 1 co-host Brian Dunkleman.
- The Chew Toy
- Chick Magnet
- Dramatic Pause
- Interactive Narrator
- Large Ham
- Mr. Fanservice
- Sharp-Dressed Man
- Talent Show Host
Randy Jackson (Season 1-present)
- Bald Black Leader Guy
- The Big Guy
- Cool Old Guy
- Cool Teacher
- A Father to His Men
- Gentle Giant
- Stern Teacher
- Stoic Spectacles
- Token Minority
- Verbal Tic: "Yo!", "Dawg!".
Simon Cowell (Season 1-9)
- Badass
- Breakout Character
- Brutal Honesty
- Cynical Mentor
- Deadpan Snarker: Very much so.
- Ice King
- Insufferable Genius
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- The Mean Brit
- Put on a Bus
- Stern Teacher
- Tall, Dark and Snarky
Paula Abdul (Season 1-8)
- Cool Old Lady
- Cool Teacher
- Hair of Gold
- The Heart
- Hot Mom
- Living Legend
- Put on a Bus: The Bus Came Back at the Season 9 finale.
- The Smurfette Principle: Until Kara shows up.
Brian Dunkleman (Season 1)
Kara DioGuardi (Season 8-9)
Ellen DeGeneres (Season 9)
Jennifer Lopez (Season 10-present)
- The Heart
- Hot Mom
- Idol Singer
- Ms. Fanservice
- Older Than They Look
- The Smurfette Principle
- Spicy Latina
Steven Tyler (Season 10-present)
- Badass Longcoat
- Badass Long Hair
- Camp Straight
- Casanova
- Chick Magnet
- Cool Old Guy
- Grandpa What Massive Hotness You Have
- Guttural Growler
- Keet
- Large Ham
- Living Legend
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy
- Older Than They Look
- Sexy Mentor
Jimmy Iovine (Season 10-present)
- Brutal Honesty
- Cynical Mentor
- Deadpan Snarker
- Grumpy Old Man
- Ice King
- Insufferable Genius
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- Nice Cap
- Stern Teacher
- Stoic Spectacles
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Simon Cowell.
Season 1
Kelly Clarkson
Justin Guarini
Nikki McKibbin
Tamyra Gray
RJ Helton
Christina Christian
Ryan Starr
AJ Gil
Jim Verraros
EJay Day
Season 2
Ruben Studdard
Clay Aiken
- The Runner Up Takes It All
- Transparent Closet: The Reveal will take years to happen, but everyone can see it anyways.
Kimberly Locke
Josh Gracin
Trenyce
Carmen Rasmusen
Kimberly Caldwell
Rickey Smith
Julia DeMato
Corey Clark
Charles Grigsby
Vanessa Olivarez
Season 3
Fantasia Barrino
Diana DeGarmo
Jasmine Trias
LaToya London
George Huff
John Stevens
Jennifer Hudson
- Big Beautiful Woman
- Funny Afro
- Lucky Seven
- The Runner Up Takes It All: The Trope Codifier for female examples.
Jon Peter Lewis
Camile Velasco
Amy Adams
Matthew Rogers
Leah LaBelle
Season 4
Carrie Underwood
- The Cutie
- Fan Service Pack
- Flawless Victory
- Hair of Gold
- Hero's Journey
- No Damage Run
- Older Than They Look
- Southern Belle
Bo Bice
Vonzell Solomon
Anthony Fedorov
Scott Savol
Constantine Maroulis
Anwar Robinson
Nadia Turner
Nikko Smith
Jessica Sierra
Mikalah Gordon
Lindsey Cardinale
Season 5
Taylor Hicks
- Competence Zone
- Designated Protagonist Syndrome
- Flawless Victory
- No Damage Run
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Katherine McPhee
Elliot Yamin
- Eleventh-Hour Superpower: Which resulted to Daughtry's Shocking Elimination.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Despite little screentime before the semifinals, he made it to third place and is well-liked by many Idol fans.
Chris Daughtry
- Badass
- Badass Beard
- Bald of Awesome
- Four Is Death
- Rated "M" for Manly
- The Runner Up Takes It All: The Trope Codifier, again.
Paris Ana'is Bennett
Kellie Dawn Pickler
Brett Asa "Ace" Young
William Joel "Bucky" Covington
Mandisa
Lisa Gabrielle Tucker
Kevin Patrick Covais
Melissa Christine McGhee
Season 6
Jordin Sparks
Blake Lewis
Melinda Doolittle
LaKisha Ann Jones
Chris Richardson
Phil Stacey
Sanjaya Malakar
- The Chew Toy
- Elimination Houdini: Almost became the Trope Namer.
Haley Scarnato
- Ms. Fanservice: Is considered by many to have gotten as far as she did thanks to this trope.
Gina Glocksen
- Alliterative Name
- Early-Bird Cameo: Possibly the earliest example of this in the show; she had auditioned for Season 5 and was cut mid-way through Hollywood rounds.
Chris Sligh
Stephanie Edwards
Brandon Rogers
Season 7
David Cook
- The Ace
- Badass
- Badass Beard
- Follow the Leader: He started the streak for white men with guitars winning the show. Although without question, most of them pale in comparison to him.
- Mr. Fanservice
- One Steve Limit: With co-finalist and runner-up David Archuleta, as well as first boot David Hernandez.
- Rated "M" for Manly
- The Smart Guy
- Tall, Dark and Handsome
David Archuleta
- Ambiguously Gay
- Bishounen
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
- Mr. Fanservice
- One Steve Limit: With co-finalist and eventual winner David Cook and first boot David Hernandez.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
Syesha Mercado
Jason Castro
Brooke White
Carly Smithson
Kristy Lee Cook
Michael Johns
Ramiele Malubay
Chikezie
Amanda Overmyer
David Hernandez
- One Steve Limit: With eventual finalists David Cook and David Archuleta.
Season 8
Kris Allen
- Dark Horse Victory: Quite possibly the biggest example in the show's history.
- Mr. Fanservice
- Tall, Dark and Handsome
Adam Lambert
- Badass Longcoat
- Crack Defeat
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
- Mr. Fanservice
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
- The Runner Up Takes It All
- Shiny Midnight Black
- Word of Gay
Danny Gokey
Allison Iraheta
Matt Giraud
Anoop Desai
Lil Rounds
Scott MacIntyre
Megan Joy
Michael Sarver
Alexis Grace
Jorge Núñez
Jasmine Murray
Season 9
Lee DeWyze
- Butt Monkey: If a contestant from any season is compared to Lee, ten to one is that it isn't in a positive way.
Crystal Bowersox
Casey James
Michael Lynche
Aaron Kelly
Siobhan Magnus
Tim Urban
- Elimination Houdini: Although, unlike Sanjaya, he did get a bit better as the season went on.
- Mr. Fanservice
Katie Stevens
Andrew Garcia
Didi Benami
Paige Miles
Lacey Brown
Season 10
Scotty McCreery
- Badass Baritone
- Flawless Victory
- Good Ol' Boy
- Nice Hat
- No Damage Run: Was never stated as being in the bottom three or two at any point in the competition.
- Ship Tease: With Lauren.
Lauren Alaina
- The Cutie
- Hair of Gold
- Les Yay: She and Pia seemed very close.
- Ship Tease: With Scotty.
Haley Reinhart
James Durbin
- Badass
- Four Is Death
- The Smart Guy: As to be expected with someone with Asperger's.
Jacob Lusk
Casey Abrams
- Badass Beard
- The Big Guy
- Fiery Redhead
- Gentle Giant
- Guttural Growler
- Ship Tease: With Haley.
- Younger Than They Look
Stefano Langone
Paul McDonald
- Badass Beard
- Camp Straight: Wears flamboyant suits, dances with a tambourine and is married to Nikki Reed.
Pia Toscano
Naima Adedapo
Thia Megia
Karen Rodriguez
Ashthon Jones
Season 11
Philip Phillips
- Alliterative Name
- Chick Magnet
- Dark Horse Victory
- Designated Protagonist Syndrome
- The Fettered
- Flawless Victory
- Good Ol' Boy
- Ill Boy: Has kidney problems that made him unable to be in Ford commercials. Thought of dropping out of the show for surgery several times, but he clearly wanted to win the show.
- Limited Wardrobe: Almost always seen in a flannel shirt, tee, and jeans.
- Mr. Fanservice
- No Damage Run
- Repetitive Name
- Vocal Range Exceeded: During "Time of the Season". Out of all eleven winners, he has the smallest range.
Jessica Sanchez
- Crack Defeat
- The Cutie
- Dark And Bishoujo
- Go Out with a Smile: Cheers for and hugs Phillip when he's announced the winner.
- Guttural Growler: Childhood clips show that it's a natural talent.
- The Ingenue
- Military Brat
- Not Quite Eliminated
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Of the singing variety.
- The Quiet One
- Shiny Midnight Black
- Vocal Dissonance: Tiny Asian teenager that belts with a Guttural Growl.
Joshua Ledet
- The Ace
- Ambiguously Gay
- Crack Defeat
- Early-Bird Cameo
- Expy: He's basically Season 3 winner Fantasia's Spear Counterpart. He's even garnered the nickname of Mantasia. Further solidified when he and Fantasia had a duet in the season finale.
- Guttural Growler
- Large Ham: When singing.
- Preacher's Kid
Hollie Cavanagh
- Adorkable: The videos describing other contestants were full of funny, although unintentionally so, material from Hollie, especially in one part where she calls Skylar "thick-boned".
- Badass Decay: Started the season with strong vocals that possibly rivals runner-up Jessica. But as the week goes on, her vocals becomes weaker. Then again, it was revealed she's been eating ice cream while still in the competition.
- The Cutie
- Early-Bird Cameo: She was first seen in Season 10.
- Eliminate The Cutie
- Face Elimination With Dignity
- Fan Service Pack
- Four Is Death
- Funny Foreigner
- Go Out with a Smile
- Graceful Loser
- Hair of Gold
- Ms. Fanservice
- Older Than They Look
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: At first.
- She's Got Legs
Skylar Laine
- Genki Girl
- Girls with Guns
- Graceful Loser
- Hollywood Pudgy
- Ship Tease: With Colton.
- Shorttank
- Small Girl, Big Gun
Elise Testone
- Competence Zone
- Face Elimination With Dignity
- Go Out with a Smile
- Graceful Loser
- Guttural Growler
- Hair of Gold
- Nice Hat
- Statuesque Stunner
- Woman in Black
Colton Dixon
- Ascended Extra / Born Lucky: He was only accompanying his sister during auditions for moral support. The judges, knowing how talented he is during his stint in Season 10, called him and made him audition on the spot. We know the rest.
- Badass
- Early-Bird Cameo: He was first seen in Season 10 and almost made the semi-finals.
- Eliminated Little Sister: Which he did not take well.
- Granola Guy
- Hair of Gold
- Mr. Fanservice
- Out-of-Character Moment: He states that the reason why he was axed is because his performance the night before alienated his fanbase.
- Ship Tease: With Skylar.
DeAndre Brackensick
Heejun Han
- Alliterative Name
- Asian and Nerdy
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His eccentric nature led the judges to thinking that he was another Hopeless Auditionee, but proved quite otherwise.
- Ensemble Darkhorse
- Funny Foreigner
- Nerd Glasses
- Nice Guy
- Older Than They Look
Erika Van Pelt
- Big Beautiful Woman
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Goes from blond to Shiny Midnight Black.
- Hair of Gold: Naturally.
Shannon Magrane
Jermaine Jones
- Alliterative Name
- Badass Baritone
- Badass Beard
- The Big Guy
- Diabolus Ex Machina
- Gentle Giant: His Red Baron.
- Non Gameplay Elimination
- Thirteen Is Unlucky: Just watch the selection for the top 13.
Jeremy Rosado
- The Big Guy
- Gentle Giant: Fits this more than Jermaine.
- Nice Guy