Kelly Clarkson Calls Out ‘American Idol’ for ‘Lying’ About Prize for Winning Show
What To Know
- Kelly Clarkson revealed she never received the car she was promised for winning the first season of American Idol over 23 years ago.
- Other Idol winners and runners-up, such as Clay Aiken and Carrie Underwood, did receive cars as part of their prizes.
- Clarkson recently announced that The Kelly Clarkson Show will end after its seventh season so she can focus on her family.
It’s been over 23 years since Kelly Clarkson won the very first season of American Idol, and she’s still waiting on the car she was promised as part of her grand prize.
The “Since U Been Gone” singer made the revelation on Tuesday’s (March 10) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show when speaking with The Traitors Season 4 winner Rob Rausch. The Love Island alum told Clarkson he was still waiting to receive the $220,800 prize money he won on the show.
“I relate to this so hardcore,” Clarkson said, per Us Weekly. “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.”
At the time, the prize for winning American Idol was a recording contract worth $1 million. Following her victory, Clarkson signed with RCA Records, the label in partnership with Idol‘s 19 Recordings. She went on to earn multiple top-ten singles, platinum albums, Grammy Awards, and Emmy Awards. However, there was one prize she never received.
“And then they said you get a car, and I needed it because my car is bashed in and I couldn’t afford the [insurance] deductible,” she shared. “And then, no! I did not get a car!”
The show then rubbed salt in the wound by giving Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken and his mom each a car. “I was like, ‘What the f***?’” Clarkson jokingly recalled. “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.'”
Other winners and runners-up also received cars, including Season 4 winner and current Idol judge Carrie Underwood. In a 2023 interview on Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen, Underwood revealed she still has the Ford Mustang convertible she won on the show.
“It always makes me want to drive it more, because it was such a pivotal point in my life,” she said, per Us Weekly. “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.”
Clarkson returned to her daytime talk show on Monday (March 9) after a brief hiatus. In February, she announced that The Kelly Clarkson Show will end with its current seventh season this fall so she can focus on her family. Clarkson shares her daughter, River, and son, Remy, with her late ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, who died at the age of 48 in August 2025.
“Stepping away from the daily schedule will allow me to prioritize my kids, which feels necessary and right for this next chapter of our lives,” she wrote in a February 2 Instagram statement.
Conversation16 Comments
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S
Well it’s not too late for American Idol to make it right by Kelly!! Give her the dang car AI, it’s only right she earned it and won it!! Sounds kinda like Clay’s mom wound up with Kelly’s car and that’s not right whatsoever!!! GIVE KELLY HER CAR!!!👍🏼
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S
I want to know why Clay's mom was given a car in the first place. That was not right and certainly was not fair to all the other season winners and their mom's. Pretty rotten thatxyou never gave Kelly Clarkson the very first winner what she deserved.
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P
Well... they just had this extra one laying around...
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M
Seriously? How rude of Idol! If I were Kelly, I would chase Simon's a$$ down and insist he buy me the car that was promised, or kick his British butt! I realize Kelly can afford to buy her audience cars, but it's the point of it being the iconic starting point of her career!
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J
poor writing ... how do you share custody of your children with a dead person?
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B
It says shares, not shares custody.
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D
How can you share, forget custody, with a dead person? Poor grammar. Who were fathered by late hubby, yeah.
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L
Her and her husband share the children, whether he is dead or alive...as in they are the children's parents....because they share their DNA with the children....as in they created the children. Don't be daft, this really isn't that difficult to understand.
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D
Low reading comprehension + low impulse control = comments like this.
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A
No one would know who she is if it wasn't for American Idol not to mention the millions she's made. Be thankful.
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A
Maybe she'd have achieved fame without AI, maybe not, but lying about the prize is lying about it. And without its stars and their careers, AI might have faded away. What is your point in justifying the lie?
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J
I think it's total bullshit she didn't get her car. I love Kelly, I feel like calling myself.
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B
The first and still the best voice...ever
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R
Ain't that a witch if it was you you would want your darn car.
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P
She brought it up as a joke you dingbat
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T
I think she is grateful because she could have bashed the show for the past 20 years or however long its been. This is the first Im hearing of it. SHAME ON AMERICAN IDOL!! That's not cool!
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