Carmen Rasmusen

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Andrew McGinn

Much to her frustration, Carmen Rasmusen couldn't attract the attention of record-label executives after Idol.

She did, however, attract another kind of invertebrate: Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

The country gal from Utah was covered in them (among other creepy-crawlies) during a 2006 stop on NBC's Fear Factor. "The worst experience of my life," says Rasmusen, 23.

Even worse than that was the four years it took to get an album deal in Nashville. "I'd come home just crying," she says. "I guess I didn't have that 'it' factor."

Rasmusen, who finished in the middle of the Idol pack in 2003, finally found a label (the indie Lofton Creek) and released her country debut, Nothin' Like the Summer, last year. "I'm so glad I hung in there," she...