Justin Buckles, writer of American Idol Exposed, continued his intimate interview with Vote For the Worst, the famous anti-Idol site, this week. Buckles worked for American Idol during season 5, and (like us) became so disgruntled with the victory of Taylor Hicks that he had to walk away.

Okay, so maybe Taylor Hicks was only part of the problem. According to the in-depth interview, Buckles had a lot of personal and professional reasons for washing his hands of television’s number one show.

Buckles had tons of interaction with the contestants during his season. He paints a picture of a very toxic environment with exhausted singers, horrifying stage mothers and over-confident contestants who begin letting the fame go to their heads. But, perhaps there was some reason they were so stressed...

“I know that there was a huge fallout regarding the contracts that the contestants had to sign,” Buckles revealed. “[The contestants] felt nothing was explained to them properly and they were promised days off, which they never got.” He said the contestants “all felt like they were forced to sign the contracts and not allowed to ask questions or take the contract to an outside lawyer for review.”

But that’s just the beginning of the nitty-gritty behind the scenes. “Contestants and employees sleep with each other on a regular basis,” Buckles revealed. “They weren’t supposed to, obviously.” In his book, American Idol Exposed, Buckles talks at length about the relationship between contestant Kimberly Locke and producer Simon Lythgoe.

Buckles also talked about the voting during his interview, something that many watchers have long wondered about. “Every week, there were voting issues,” Buckles said. “Phone lines were down, numbers screwed up, the wrong numbers put with the wrong contestants, etc.”  

And during his Idol tenure, Buckles also knew who was going home before it was revealed on the air, though he was relatively low on the totem pole of power. “I always found out within an hour of walking into the office the day of the results show,” he said. Not a very well-kept secret, then.

To get all the recaps, gossip and spoilers on the current season of the show, read all our American Idol 10 posts.