It seems that not everyone admires a winner. According to Entertainment Tonight, someone drove a backhoe through the back of the Albany Sporting Goods & Pawn shop - the store owned by "American Idol" winner Phil Phillips' parents.
The robbery occurred on Monday night, when the store was closed, and as of today Phillips' family were still trying to determine what had been taken.
It's been a rough month for Phillips who underwent surgery last week to remove the kidney stones that kept him under the weather during much of the competition. The Phillips family is fortunate that no one was harmed during the robbery. Other "Idol" contestants have experienced immediate physical peril at the hand of thieves.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Alexis Lopez, a wildcard semi-finalist in Season 1 returned to her day job at an IHOP in Granada Hills, CA after she failed to make the Final 10. Working late one Saturday night in 2007, she was assaulted by an armed robber who demanded she open the back room safe while holding a gun to her head.
"I said 'Shoot me, I don't have it.' Then he put the gun at my forehead," she recalled, "all that ran through my mind [was] I was on 'American Idol' at 17, I'm ready to come out with my album."
In the end the gun man didn't shoot Lopez, though he did get away with several hundred dollars.
Road Rage
It could have been a scene from "The Fast and the Furious." Season 4 alum Anware Robinson narrowly escaped death during a high speed chase in 2011 by slamming on the breaks just as gunmen in another car fixed their sights on him.
Ten shots were fired at Robinson's car, but both he and his passenger escaped unharmed. Robinson believes he owes his survival to God. "Years and years of hope, prayer helped me through that night," he affirmed.
The Real Gamble is Taking a Stroll After Dark
Fellow Season 4 alumni, Mikalah Gordon was not as lucky. She and a friend were robbed at gunpoint in Las Vegas near the strip. Gordon's mother told reporters after the incident that she was unharmed, but shaken.
Gordon's attackers were surely disappointed with their haul - a cell phone and $5 cash.
More From This Contributor:
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Bret Michaels Critiques Tom Cruise -- Other Celebrities Who Scoffed at an Actor's Portrayal
'American Idol' Hometown Visits and Judges Choice
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