by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 25, 2010

"Here's some advice for you. Grab the couches when you get up here!"

In a special backstage video made available in Season 9, finalist Lee DeWyze offered a startling glimpse at the backstage life of an American Idol contestant. "Right out of the gate - go right for the couches. Because you're going to want to sleep, especially when you're like to the top 24 and there's a little more down time." The grueling day-to-day schedule is actually physically exhausting, and Lee warned contestants that one of the biggest things they'd encounter in their day-to-day life were the physical challenges of exhaustion. "And when everyone's got the couches, you're stuck on the floor!"

During the week the contestants live together in simple "dorm room"-style accommodations. They're paired up with appropriate roommates, and they're offered warm meals from banquet-style trays - but there's no time for lounging around. Because of the show's schedule, they only have five and a half days to prepare their next performance. (And later in the season, during that time they'll actually have to prepare several different performances.) The Tuesday night show is taped at 5 p.m. so it can be broadcast live for audiences on the East Coast. But Wednesday night all the contestants return for the agonizing "results" shows - and these shows often include the cast in another group musical number. Lee DeWyze once remembered a friend who thought the contestants at least got to relax after Wednesday night's results show - and how Lee had just laughedat him. Because the sad truth is, there's just never a break.

And it's especially grueling for contestants in the Top Three. Though they'd all return to the Hollywood studio for the Tuesday night show, all three Idol contestants spent most of the previous Friday performing in their hometown. In Season Nine it was apparently part of a promotional deal with AT&T, since each contestant first appeared at one of their hometown's local AT&T stores. At 10:30 a.m. - or 11:00 a.m., in the case of Lee DeWyze - they arrived, and announced to their fans that they'd received a text message from one of the American Idol judges.  In the upcoming show, each contestant would sing a song that was chosen by one of the judges. So the text messages they received revealed what that song was - and also provided AT&T with a nice "product placement" moment.

But later that afternoon, each Idol contestant would perform for their hometown crowd. The event, of course,

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