#109 Matthew Rogers

Next on my American Idol finalist countdown is Matthew Rogers from American Idol season 3. He was the host of the prematurely canceled reality television show There Goes the Neighborhood, which was broadcast in standard definition. He was also the host of a documentary series called Really Big Things. He now hosts Coming Home on the Lifetime television network. He was ranked at number 67 on the Los Angeles Times American Idol power rankings list of May 31, 2010.

Matthew Wyatt "Matt" Rogers was born on September 16, 1978. He is a native and resident of Rancho Cucamonga, California, which is located approximately 39 miles (63 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, California. He began to sing at the age of five. He attended Sierra Vista Middle School, which is part  of the Irvine Unified School District in Covina, California, and South Hills High School, which is part of the Covina-Valley Unified School District, in West Covina, California, which is east of Los Angeles and in the San Gabriel Valley. He played football during his time in high school. He went on to play college football at the University of Washington, where he served as an offensive lineman on their 2001 Rose Bowl championship team. He lost his mother to cancer in middle 2004.

After his stint on American Idol, he married his longtime girlfriend Teri Himes on February 19, 2005, and became father to a son named Brayden Douglas, born on April 16, 2006, weighing in at eight pounds.

Rogers was 25 years old during his stint on American Idol. He auditioned for American Idol in Los Angeles, California, with James Ingram's "Just Once." He was a member of semifinal group 2. During the semifinals, he performed the 1978 hit "What You Won't Do for Love" by Bobby Caldwell, and he was chosen by the public to be in the top 12. On top 11 week, he performed "Hard to Handle" by Otis Redding. On March 24, 2006, after performing the 2000 hit "Amazed" by Lonestar, he got his 11th place curtain call on American Idol.

Since his stint on American Idol, Rogers served as a co-host for American Idol Extra, which ran from 2006 to 2009, and worked as a correspondent on several sports and entertainment shows, including Turner Sports College Football, The Best Damn Sports Show Period, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, and American Idol. He made a guest appearance on the "Idols" edition of Family Feud.

Rogers was the host for the Discovery Channel show Really Big Things in 2007 and the CBS show There Goes the Neighborhood in 2009. He now hosts the Lifetime show Coming Home, which debuted March 6, 2011.

The next entry on my American Idol finalist countdown, from my least favorite (who is Nikki McKibbin, ranked at number 120) to my most favorite (whom I will not mention by name until I get to number 1), is my number 108 American Idol finalist. He is one day older than me. He lived in various cities across the United States with his nomadic family until he left the nest at 18. He auditioned for American Idol season 3 in Hawaii. After singing an Elvis Presley song, he was eliminated just before Jennifer Hudson.