Several organizations subsequently honored Verraros as an influential figure within the gay community (such as Out magazine, which named him to its "Most Intriguing People" list twice, first in 2002 and again in 2006).
In 2007, Verraros released a non-album single about his then-to-be husband, Bill Brennan; the song, "You Make It Better", was featured in the second Eating Out film.
[4] During his time at Columbia College, Verraros followed a friend's suggestion to try out for American Idol[9] and attended the auditions in Chicago[10] – even though his primary interest was acting.
[8] Attempting to stand out, Verraros chose to sing "When I Fall in Love" by Nat King Cole at his audition, rather than a pop song.
[13][14][15] American Idol heavily focused on his parents' disabilities, and several publications speculated that Verraros may have been helped in the competition by sympathy votes.
[21] Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Sun-Times speculated that the severity of Cowell's comments during the semi-finals may have increased audience support for Verraros,[14][19] who was voted through to the top ten.
In his 2011 tell-all book, American Idol: The Untold Story, Richard Rushfield revealed that a "judge's cut" was going to be introduced as a twist to the semi-finals.
After the Group 1 results episode went off air, Cowell went to the three contestants who had been voted through to the finals[b] and told Verraros that the judges were overruling his advancement to the next round.
Verraros won a coin toss against Kelly Clarkson, who also wanted to sing "Get Ready", but he switched course upon considering how much of the song is in falsetto.
[24][32][33][34][35][36][37] When Verraros advanced into the top ten for American Idol's first season, Shaw (of Entertainment Weekly) wrote of the contestant, "I can't decide whether I love him or loathe him.
After watching all of the top ten finalists perform on their nationwide tour, he suggested that Verraros should have placed seventh and commended him for "doing as well as anyone could" with poor singing-material (referring to "Easy").
"[44] About a month after being voted out of the top ten on American Idol's first season, Verraros joined thirteen other former contestants from the series to perform at various events in Northwest Indiana.
"[60] Verraros gave an extensive interview to The Advocate in January 2003,[4] which was described as his official "coming out",[63][64][66] and in May, he participated in Boston's Youth Pride march.
[67] The American Idol: Greatest Moments album, released October 1, 2002, features a recorded version of Verraros singing "Easy".
[74][75][e] Throughout the Spring of 2003, Verraros participated in Coca-Cola's Behind the Scenes With American Idol promotional tour, in which he and a selection of other finalists from the first two seasons of the series performed across the country in shopping malls owned by the Simon Property Group.
[78][79][80][81][82][83] Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and music producer Gabe Lopez reached out to Verraros, after hearing American Idol: Greatest Moments.
Vary wrote that Verraros "sings with true passion and bracing maturity" on the album and singled out the track "So Deep", for being "so dirty even Xtina would blush.
[86][87] Multiple tracks from Unsaid and Understood topped the Rock and Pop charts on mp3.com,[88] and the album won the 2004 Out Music Award for Outstanding New Recording – Debut Male.
[99] Verraros then pursued a record deal in the United Kingdom, hoping that British labels would be more willing to work with an openly gay artist, although nothing materialized from this.
[99] New York-based indie label Koch Records began communicating with Verraros over the summer of 2004 about the possibility of featuring him on a compilation album of songs by American Idol finalists.
The Advocate wrote that on American Idol, Verraros had been "a slightly geeky kid with a stiff stance...[and] a preppy look [that] included dark- rimmed glasses, spiky hair and a stone-washed jeans jacket" – in contrast, The Advocate wrote, Verraros possessed "bad-boy good looks" and "long rock-star hair" when Rollercoaster was released.
[72] The Houston Chronicle added that the "shaggy dark cut, eye makeup and slick threads" that Verraros had adopted at the time gave him sex appeal.
[107] Verraros himself assessed his look on American Idol as having been "[very] Midwestern" – he said that he was wanting to distance himself from associations with the series[100] and that he was excited "to see how people would react to such a crazy change".
In June 2006, the Windy City Times included Verraros in its "30 Under 30" list of young figures who had made positive contributions to the LGBTQ community.
[8] Around this time, he mentioned that he had been cast in three films; one was described as a dark LA-based romance, in which he would play a cocaine addict who falls in love with a struggling actor,[1][141] another, referred to by the title Copacabana: Of Love and Shadows, was described as a Rio de Janeiro-based musical, in which Verraros would play both male and female roles;[1][11][141][142][143][i] and the third, referred to by the title Pizza on Sunset, was described as a gay LA-based romantic comedy.
"[146] Verraros appeared at multiple book signings in Illinois during January 2008 with Poseman and American Idol sixth season finalist Gina Glocksen.
[168] All three songs were written and produced by Gabe Lopez, whose official website announced that the accompanying album's release date had been pushed back to late 2010.
Lora likened the song to a "less powerful" version of "Larger Than Life" by the Backstreet Boys or something by "Nick Carter if he were making Justin Timberlake music".
"[111] Several years earlier, in 2006, Verraros had mentioned the possibility of his second album being released through Sony BMG's then-newly formed gay-focused label, "Music With a Twist".
[3][175][176][179] The song "You Make It Better" from the film Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds was written by Verraros about Brennan and was included in the music set list for their wedding.