Are Pros Taking Over "Idol"?

We haven’t even made it to the voting stages yet, and VotefortheWorst.com is already stirring up trouble…

The website has posted a list they claim to be this year’s top 50 (and no, I haven’t looked). In that list, they have found 13 contestants with some professional music experience.

Tops on that list is Kristy Lee Cook, who we saw Tuesday in Phladelphia. Cook was once signed to Arista Nashville and represented by LeAnn Rimes’ former manager, Marty Rendelmann. She also had a deal with Britney Spears’ production company, according to MTV, and Britney was even set to appear in one of Cook’s videos (It never happened.).

Also on that list is Irish singer Carly Hennessy, who I don’t think we’ve seen yet. She had a six-album deal with MCA and was even the focus of a “Wall Street Journal” article detailing the cost of breaking a new pop singer (The label spent an estimated $2.2 million on her album which sold less than 400 copies.). One of the producers she worked with was a producer who worked with the Spice Girls, who, of course, are managed by “Idol” guru Simon Fuller.

Michael Johns is from Australia and was once the lead singer of The Rising, a band that was signed to Madonna’s Maverick Records in 2003.

And Jermaine Paul was actually signed to J Records and appeared on a duet with Alicia Keys that won a Grammy (One website reports he has dropped out of the competition.).

So what is going on here? Is “Idol” running out of talent to discover? Are these all just people looking for second chances? Or are they, as VotefortheWorst.com suggests, plants to keep “Idol” from experiencing a “Vote for the Worst takeover”?

What do you think? Does it bother you that these contestants already have professional experience?...

UPDATE: Add Kady Malloy (the Britney imitator that ripped out "Unchained Melody") to the list of semi-pros. Malloy had an album available for download on Amie Street, an independent album seller. The site has now posted a note that her CD had to be removed from the site because she is a contestant on "Idol." One blog commenter suggested that Simon coaxed her into a better performance because she was meant to be a ringer...