David Hernandez--a nude dancer?

I think you know it's going to be a bad day when you wake up and see this story about you in the paper....

Strip club: 'American Idol' David Hernandez once a nude dancer
"American Idol" contestant David Hernandez once entertained audiences by removing his clothes instead of singing tunes, a manager at a male strip club in Phoenix told The Associated Press.

The 24-year-old finalist from Glendale, Ariz., once worked as a stripper at Dick's Cabaret, appearing fully nude and performing lap dances for the club's "mostly male" clientele, club manager Gordy Bryan said Monday.

"He had the look and the type that people like, so he made pretty good money here," Bryan said.

It's not clear whether a history as a stripper could disqualify Hernandez from the competition.

Ha! I love the understatement of that line.

And you know, in a weird way being a male stripper might be the perfect practice for being on AI.... Heck, if nothing else you learn how to get a crowd excited; and how to persevere in the face of negative feedback.

I'm a little surprised though--I think most people would've picked a certain other contestant for the title of most-likely-to-be-a-male-stripper.

The Associated Press updated the article late today with this news:

David Hernandez will still perform on tonight's "American Idol," in spite of revelations that he was once a stripper.

A person close to the show tells The Associated Press Hernandez will perform as planned with the eight male finalists. That person is not authorized to comment publicly and asked not to be identified.

Now I'm totally curious how Ryan and David and Simon will address this tonight...

Courtesy of coworker Lizzy, here's a list of songs that David 'Buck Naked for Real' Hernandez might wanna stay away from on tonight's show, on 80s night:

-Cherry Pie by Warrant

-Slow and Easy by Whitesnake

-Talk Dirty to Me by Poison

-Touch me Now by Samantha Fox

-Black Velvet by Allaynah Miles

-Heartbreaker by Pat Benetar

-Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners

-Rapture by Blondie

All I can say is hopefully, the other David--Archuleta--won't be corrupted by all this.

AP file photo of David Hernandez by Mark J. Terrill