Blake Lewis: Idol's Next Biggest Loser

American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis is all smiles as he poses with his fans and carries his own luggage into his NYC hotel on Monday.

“I’m kind of glad I didn’t win for, like, contractual reasons,” Blake told People. “I think if you’re first you might have to come back for like three years or something.”

Hot on the heels of Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and successful rocker Chris Daughtry, Blake is on the fast track to becoming Idol‘s next successful “loser.”

“I think we suffer from Jennifer Hudson- and Chris Daughtry-itis, which is people who didn’t win getting great careers and now a lot of the contestants believed it absolutely doesn’t matter,” Simon Cowell has told Entertainment Weekly. “Sometimes there’s part of me thinking, ‘You genuinely couldn’t care less what we’re got to say; everything’s going your own way now.’”

Will Blake Lewis surpass Jordin Sparks in record sales… and even fame?

10+ pictures inside of Blake…