Jeremy Bradley- Constantine Maroulis joining us on the show right now. Hello there American Idol contestant turned American Idol correspondent. How's it going today?

Constantine Maroulis- Yes, it's going great man. It's good to chat with you. How you doing today?

JB- It's good. It's a little bit warm here in Canada, which is a nice surprise. You're in California right now, aren't you?

CM- I am. I was in New York for a few days, but I'm back in time to make it to Idol tonight to do my job. I came home to some crappy weather here in L.A., but actually today it's quite nice.

JB- Yeah, now in the event that we do get more snow, do you want me to FedEx some over there?

CM- No problem, no problem. I do miss the snow. It doesn't even snow in New York anymore. Maybe once a year. As a kid I felt like it just snowed all the time. Maybe that's just a beginning of the end or something for us.

JB- Oh, well, global warming, hey? Who's going to complain about warm weather?

CM- Well, you know, I'm not…

JB- I guess the ski resorts probably are.

CM- True. I'm not much of a skier though, not much of a skier. I'm more of a city boy, so I just . . . I like indoor sports. So what else, man? What's shaking?

JB- So now before we get started, when you were on Idol you had the - we'll call it "that look" - and Seacrest always talks about it. He had to do it on Idol a couple of weeks ago. So we're on the radio. I can't see you, you can't see me, but I want to try something all right? During our call, I want you to give "the look," and I'll let you know if I can tell when you're doing it?

CM- Now how would you know? The hairs just start standing on the back of your neck or something?

JB- If I get that tingly, well, Seacrest probably gets it more than I do.

CM- (laughing)

JB- So you just do it whenever and I'll stop. I'll interrupt us and I'll say, "OK, you're doing it now." All right, so we'll see if it works.

CM- I get it. You ready for it?

JB- Well, if I miss it . . . Well, sometime when I'm talking, not right now. But if I miss it, you tell me that you just did it, OK?

CM- All right. How about if I give you a three-two-one look?

JB- (laughing) OK, let's try that. Go ahead.

CM- All right. Three, two, one. [silence] Did you feel it?

JB- You know what? I think Bonnie . . . I think she's having a hot flash, so I'm not sure if that's weird timing or not.

CM- (laughing) Just a coincidence maybe. It's just . . . it's all good, man. What's funny is when I was on the show, I grew up in the theatre, so to me when you're doing songs like that you have to communicate and try to be specific with your choices, and I think one day the director caught me looking in the camera goofing around and he's, like, "That's great. You got to do that. You got to talk to the people at home." And it just started working out, and I guess it just became my thing. It was funny, because I can't do it on cue just like now. As Seacrest tried to get me to do it a couple of weeks ago, it didn't really work out. It's sort of natural. You either hate it or you love it, and that's me. The whole thing with me is that I've sort of been a survivor. Had lots of buzz coming off the show. No one really knew what the heck to do with me, where I kind of fit in, because I like to do a lot of different things - from acting, did the soap (opera). Going back to Broadway this summer actually. I love this hosting thing (on American Idol Extra), and of course, I've been touring and playing out a lot. Put out a little indie record last year and have been supporting that. Plan on doing a bigger record next time around.

JB- And the look is then perfect also for the soaps like you were mentioning.

CM- (laughing) Yeah, they seem to work it out, so they worked it into the script a few times. We all got a kick out of it. But, no, the soaps are great and I did a new pilot for the CW network out here in Los Angeles, and it's gotten a lot of buzz and hopefully, it'll go. So just been acting, singing, doing this hosting thing. It's been a great year to be a part of American Idol, I got to tell you. I think coming off last year, a bit of a lack lustre year, although Jordan was my favourite all along and from the beginning. When I was doing my Yahoo show and I had her picked as the number 1, and she's been doing great. I'm so happy for her, but this year you had a lot of bangers on there. People that really came to play and play furious. They had their game together, and it's been an exciting year. We'll see what happens. They're right down to it now.

JB- Yeah, and week to week, do you think America's getting the voting right, or were there some hit and misses there?

CM- No, I think they've definitely gotten it right. There's always going to be a few shockers of sorts, but I think after what's happened the last few years, no one's really that shocked. I think that at the end of the day you have to deliver every single week. You have to connect to the audience. You have to sing songs that make sense for you to sing. Some people go a little bit beyond their range, trying to do some vocal gymnastics up there, but the audience isn't stupid. They know what they want, and I have a feeling it's been a race between the two Davids since day one anyhow. I don't think it's been really that close.

JB- Are you more critical now about when you watch performances than when you were on the show?

CM- It's sort of a part of my background to be someone that gets critiqued. Growing up in theatre - and I went to the conservatory - we'd get beat up in class every single day. Basically, you'd have to get up every single day and do some sort of piece, whether it was from classical acting or voice or dance or something, there was always critiquing involved, and awfully enough, I had a lot of teachers from the U.K. It's sort of their way to be very critical in a way to break you down and build you up to make you that much better. So I guess with that I've become someone that always looks at some sort of production or performance with a critical eye. I'm no better than anyone else, but there are things that I know that I can pinpoint in people's delivery that they could either improve upon or eventually that could hurt them down the road, especially in competition. So I think it works out for me. I was someone that didn't win the show, but had managed a considerable amount of quality work, and I'm a pretty recognizable guy via the American Idol family. So it's great to be co-host of American Idol Extra, because I get a chance to kick it with everyone, give my friendly critiques, but always with a positive spin.

JB- When do you become a guest judge then? When are you taking Simon's place?

CM- (laughing) I don't think that's ever going to happen. No one could replace that guy. He literally makes the show, and he's just so charismatic, and a really cool guy off camera as well. Believe me. He and I, we talk after every show. I'm at every single show. We get a chance to catch up. He's just a really nice guy. He's just a self-made guy at the end of the day. He takes a lot of heat, but no one would watch the show if he wasn't on it. He came from pretty much nothing, he lost it all, then he built it all back up again. He's a genius. They all are, really.