EXCLUSIVE: 'American Idol's' James Durbin on Struggles Towards Stardom

James was by far the most entertaining contestant this year. I caught a glimpse of one of his performances early in the season and was hooked from that point on, and tuned in just to see him each week. That guy brings so much enthusiasm to the stage - you can tell he absolutely loves every single second he's up there. The others were okay, but nothing unique about any of them that I can see and I definitely would have lost interest without James there. I read that the finale show where Scotty and Lauren competed by themselves lost 3 million viewers - that doesn't surprise me at all. To those who say he did nothing but scream, did you even see him do Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? That, in my opinion, was the single best performance of the entire season.

Also, to people who say he played too much on his disabilities, I don't think he did that as much as Idol (and reporters) did. And I think the reason people are so fascinated by that is, let's face it, we all know people with a lot less obstacles than James has had that never do anything with their lives. James has accomplished more than most people already, at only age 22, even with have something physical that caused people to stare at him and make fun of him all his life.

I think Scotty is great and I was rooting for him the whole time. Good Luck to Lauren too she will do great

Wow, cindythomas- again James is being bullied. I guess you're perfect. Calling anyone fat is not cool. You shouldn't have kids since you would be horrible.

We ALL overcome obstacles in our life to get to where we are now. This kid tried to play on that every week and it caught up with him. We got tired of hearing about his struggles. He is the best entertainer on the number 1 show on TV!!! He is about to be a millionair. Yeah, you got it real tough kid. The title of this was OUT CAST!! lol yeah 4 th place. That aint OUTCAST. The 10 million that tried out and SUCKED were outcast. lol. Your 22 so listen close, HIT THE GYM AND LOOK LIKE A ROCK STAR. How many FAT ones do you see?

I think he is fantastic. I just don't get why "being a star" is so important to so many people. Become a star. Lose your family life. Lose your privacy. Either drag your family around with you or never see them. It is a high price to pay.

So I love this guy and quite frankly way too good for American Idol which is a pop show. The good thing about Idol is it gives real talent a chance to be discovered and it turns winners into ...ahhh errrrr hmmmmm
Let's look at chris daughtry thank god he did not win becaue he would have not won a grammy so yeah for James he will be a star and rock.....Idol wont own him and make him do stupid poppy stuff and he can be his own man and thank god not an Idol man!

America never gets it right, its like in high school and who ever they like the most wins never mind there talent. High school and college kids can text so fast and have computer software that can vote 100 times that of a normal person and who is there favorite wins not ours. Pia and Durbin sould have never gone home.
Not that the Judges help in any way they love them all and without simon there, no bad reviews or picks till the botttom three is a opinion given and thats only because Ryan ask. Should be like dancing with the stars and the judges get a vote that counts for 50%. Randy is the only one who well say when you stink you stink and even then no one trust him any more we all know he is a rock head. Simon but have been a jerk but he knew talent.....

He should have won AI. To those of you saying he screamed but could not sing, just what show were you watching? I am no fan of heavy metal, but that kid can sing! He will certainly do more with what he has than the ignorant posters on here who just want to disparage anyone's success.

When one door closes.......another one wil open.....Durban is an inspiration!
Many Blessings*

He could scream loud and I bet hes on drugs and out of control within a year or leaves his wife for Adam Lambert