It’s been 24 years since she won American Idol, but Kelly Clarkson still has a bone to pick with the singing competition.
On the Tuesday (March 10) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the singer claimed that the show never made good on its promise to gift her a car once she won. The revelation came after that day’s guest, Rob Rausch, said that Traitors showrunners “still haven’t paid” him the prize money for his shocking season 4 win back in January, to which Clarkson exclaimed, “I relate to this so hardcore.”
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“You probably weren’t alive when I was on American Idol,” she proceeded to tell Rausch (who would’ve been about 3 years old during the inaugural season). “But I literally was on the show, and they were like, ‘Oh, you win a million dollars!’ or whatever. No, you didn’t … It was, like, a million dollars worth of investment in you [via recording contract].
“And then they said, ‘You get a car!’ And I needed it, ’cause my car is bashed in, and I couldn’t afford the deductible,” Clarkson continued, getting riled up. “And then, no! I did not get a car!”
Adding insult to injury, the Grammy winner said future contestants did receive vehicles from the production. “Clay Aiken, who didn’t win the second season, got a car — and his mom [did too]!” she said of the season 2 runner-up. “I was like, ‘What the f—?’ I remember Clay telling me … he was like, ‘Yeah, they gave my mom one.’ I was like, ‘I’m gonna actually kick your a– right now.’”
Billboard has reached out to Fox, the original network of American Idol, for comment.
Though she may not have gotten any new wheels from her time on Idol, Clarkson did leverage her victory into a flourishing music career. The star has nabbed three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with 31 entries total, as well as three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200.
She’s also become an acclaimed talk-show host through The Kelly Clarkson Show, which, sadly for fans, will come to an end after this season. Clarkson announced in February that after seven years, she’d be stepping away from the program to “prioritize my kids, which feels necessary and right for this next chapter of our lives.”
Watch Clarkson and Rausch bond over their reality competition show experiences below.
