Worst 'American Idol' Semifinalists Ever - #2: Nick Mitchell

We're teaming with AOL Television to name the 10 worst 'American Idol' semifinalists ever. Here's our pick for #2. Check back tomorrow for our pick at #1. Also make sure to check out the entire list of 10.

Name: Nick Mitchell
Season: 8
Worst Performance: 'And I Am Telling You'
Why We Loved Him (But Everyone Else Hated Him): Nick Mitchell auditioned for American Idol with one thought in mind: to be funny. He had no intention of making it to the top 36. He even auditioned as a character he created, Normund Gentle. When Normund and Nick got a ticket to Hollywood, VFTW cheered. But we figured the guy was obvious cannon fodder for group rounds in Hollywood and didn't put much stock into him at first.

Soon after Nick's audition aired, VFTW was leaked a list of the top 36. There were only 2 mysteries on the list. First was someone named Michael. Then there was someone named Nick. We figured out Michael Sarver pretty quickly, but couldn't figure out our mystery Nick. The Idol website had 3 Nicks in Hollywood. We figured Nick Mitchell clearly wasn't the one who made it, but after 2 Hollywood episodes, we witnessed the 2 other Nicks being cut. And that's when we realized... NICK MITCHELL IS IN THE TOP 36.

It was a joyous day for VFTW. We just had one concern. Nick was hilarious when performing as Normund, but he did perform as himself one day when pressured by others to do so. And we wanted the comedy, the legend: Normund Gentle. So would Nick cave into peer pressure and try his best when it was time to perform on the semifinal stage? Or would he come out, guns blazing as our favorite sparkly shirt wearing Idol deity?

Nick took route #2, and we couldn't have been happier. Between humping the Idol logo, falling down on the stage while singing, and giving Neil Patrick Harris a shoutout, Nick gave what might be the perfect Idol semifinal performance for VFTW. We doubt anyone will ever top it and you have to see it to really understand. So here you go. (The code is wonky and we can't find this gem anywhere else, so in case the video below doesn't work, click here to view it on another page).

Nick sadly didn't advance another week because Idol stupidly brought back the semifinal format where out of 12 people, 3 made it through. If the current semifinal format was around, we probably would've gotten to see more genius performances from the amazing force known as Normund Gentle.

So how is Nick Mitchell not #1 on our list? Well AOL and VFTW made the list together, and we decided to award the #1 spot for the Worst Semifinalist to someone who was not intentionally trying to be bad and funny. Nick will always be #1 in my heart, but on this list, we still have one more performance to go. It's a legend and an oldie but goodie. So check back tomorrow to see who it is.