Remember Jim Verraros? If you watched the first few episodes of season one of “American Idol,” he made a big impression. He dedicated his audition of “When I Fall in Love” to his parents and sang the song with sign language. He showed tons of personality, even videotaping himself during the Hollywood rounds and “Idol” used it extensively. He surprised a lot of people by making the top 10, but clearly, airtime helped him out. He was voted out second in July 2002. Refresh your memory and re-live his journey here.

Since then, he became the first “Idol” to come out of the closet and embrace his sexual orientation. (R.J. Helton came out last year.) He had a couple of dance club hits and landed a major role in an indie gay comedy flick called “Eating Out” in 2005. The DVD became a surprise hit, selling more than 50,000 copies.

And now he’s promoting the sequel to “Eating Out” called “Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds,” which hits stores Tuesday, May 29. Amazon info is here.

Here’s the trailer to the sequel “Eating Out 2”.

I spoke with him recently and he’s was open and just plain nice. He had no guard up at all.

“It’s tough to find decent projects” as an openly gay male actor, he said. He was glad to see “Eating Out” become a cult hit given that it’s a “fun, lighthearted campy comedy.” Many gay-themed films tend to be dramatic and serious, he noted.

Here’s the advertised description of the film:

In the first Eating Out, Kyle (Jim Verraros) convinced his straight roommate to pretend to be gay in order to get the girl. Now, with the help of Gwen (Emily Brooke Hands) and Tiffani (Rebekah Kochan), Kyle pretends to be heterosexual in order to land Troy (Marco Dapper), the new guy (and nude model) who’s turning the heads of both men and women. He soon finds himself joining the campus ex-gay support group and nabbing a girlfriend (Tiffany)! Kyle’s ex-boyfriend Marc (Brett Chukerman) is horrified at the plan and decides to pursue the confused Troy with his own tactic — being his “out” gay self. Who will win Troy first?

Jim said he’s close to R.J. Helton, fellow season one contestant who used to live in Cumming and now resides in San Francisco. “He and I were always close on tour,” he said. “Throughout the show, I was one of the first people he opened up to about his sexuality. I didn’t say anything. I respected his wishes.” And when Helton told a satellite radio show last fall, he called Verraros afterwards and said he felt great. “It’s nice not to worry about it anymore,” he said.

As for Clay Aiken not saying anything about his sexuality, Verraros (who does not know him) pondered, “I wonder who’s telling him to be quiet. Someone is telling him not to say anything.”

He said he watched “Idol Rewind” on syndication this past season and “cringed” at his blonde hair. “I was dorky with glasses,” he said. But overall, “it was the time of my life” doing the “Idol” tour, he said. When he slipped and fell at Philips Arena in 2002 (yes, I was there), he said “I had to be a good sport. I was more bruised emotionally. It went down as one of the more embarrassing moments.”

That first season compared to now, “they have so much more money to spend on the show. Relatively speaking, we were eating Nutri-Grain bars. They’re eating lobster thermdor.” But he has no regrets: “We were a part of history.”

Thanks to the success of “Eating Out,” he says he now gets more recognized for the film than for “Idol.” He’s also doing a movie musical, with filming in Brazil.

He attends gay pride and gay-related events all the time. Earlier this year, he attended a Vegas event for Paula Abdul, where he met Paris Bennett, Lisa Tucker, Anthony Fedorov and Mandisa, who was accused of being anti-gay, based on an ambiguous comment she made on the show. “I was very aware of the comment [which she said to me was about her own lifestyle of eating too much, not gays]. I was very reluctant to talk to her. She knew my story. I was hoping those things said about her were untrue. She ended up being one of my favorite people. She’s so sweet. She’d never be disrepectful to anybody. I have nothing but good things to say about her.”

I interviewed him about three weeks ago, when they had reached the final four. He said he was “underwhelmed” by this year’s contestants. Blake, for instance: “Take away his beatboxing and what do you have? He’s alright. He’s fun. He’s interesting, I guess. We don’t see enough personality from these kids. We’re waiting for somebody to blow me away.” His pick at the time was (correctly) Jordin. “She’s young. She has the most potential. She’s adorable and sweet. She has that thing about her. She’s teh one I’m rooting for.”

As for Sanjaya and his ambiguous sexual orientation, Jim notes that he’s only 17. “He needs to deal with it on his own time.”