Kelly Clarkson is lifting the lid on her American Idol prize more than 23 years after she won the first season.
The singer and talk show host revealed on the Tuesday, March 10, episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show that she never received the car she was promised as part of her prize. She made the revelation after The Traitors season 4 winner Rob Rausch, her guest on the episode, said he had yet to receive his $220,800 grand prize for his victory.
“I relate to this so hardcore,” Clarkson, 43, told Rausch, 27. “You probably weren’t alive when I was on American Idol, but I was literally on the show, and they were like, ‘Oh, you win a million dollars,’ or whatever. No, you didn’t. They lied. You did not, no. It was like a million dollars worth of investment in you.” (The American Idol prize at the time was a recording contract worth $1 million.)
Aside from the recording contract, Clarkson said she was also promised a car, but it never materialized.
“And then they said you get a car, and I needed it ‘cos my car is bashed in and I couldn’t afford the [insurance] deductible. And then, no! I did not get a car!” Clarkson said.
“And then Clay Aiken, who didn’t win the second season, got a car — and [so did] his mom!” she said, referring to the American Idol season 2 runner-up. “I was like, ‘What the f***?’ I remember Clay telling me that second season … he was like, ‘Yeah, they gave my mom one.’ I was like, ‘I’m gonna actually kick your ass right now.’”
American Idol winner-turned-judge Carrie Underwood previously opened up about receiving a Ford Mustang convertible following her season 4 victory back in 2005. During a March 2023 interview on Today’s Country Radio With Kelleigh Bannen, Underwood, 43, confirmed she still had the car.
“I do still have the car that I won when I won American Idol. So I have my blue Mustang,” said the singer, who is now part of the Idol judging panel with Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.
“It always makes me want to drive it more, because it was such a pivotal point in my life,” she said. “That was the car that I was driving around when I first moved to Tennessee, and I’m very, very glad I still have that car.”
More recently, season 16 winner Maddie Poppe revealed in a 2022 interview with Business Insider that she received $250,000 for winning her 2018 victory.
“You do get $250,000, but not really because of taxes,” Poppe told the outlet. “And you get half of it before you complete your record, and then the second half you get after you complete the record. So it’s just like an advance from the record deal, but I’m pretty sure I have to recoup it.”
