'American Idol' judges pick Barrino as favorite winner

Move over, Kelly. Take a back seat, Ruben.

The judges for "American Idol" say their favorite winner is Fantasia Barrino, the North Carolina native who won season three of the Fox contest show. Kelly Clarkson was the first winner and Ruben Studdard was the season two champion.

But judges Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell, who were in Greensboro, N.C., for auditions Thursday, said Barrino was their favorite.

"If we had to choose one American Idol to go out to dinner with, it would be Fantasia," Cowell said. "There are no airs and graces about her. . . . I like her."

Barrino recently disclosed that she is functionally illiterate. The singer discusses her illiteracy in a new memoir, "Life is Not a Fairy Tale," which she dictated to a freelance writer.