More than 23 years after making her claim to fame on the first-ever season of “American Idol,” Kelly Clarkson revealed that she has yet to receive the entirety of the impressive prize package she was promised for winning the 2002 reality singing competition.
The Grammy winner turned talk show host shared the news on the Tuesday, March 10, episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” featuring special guest Rob Rausch, who recently emerged victorious from Season 4 of Peacock’s “The Traitors.” During their interview, Rausch revealed that he has yet to receive the $220,800 grand prize he won on the reality competition series, prompting Kelly to share that she’d similarly never received the car she was promised as part of her “American Idol” prize package.
Kelly Clarkson Reveals ‘American Idol’ Winners Don’t Actually Get $1 Million
Getty“I relate to this so hardcore,” Clarkson, now 43, told 27-year-old Rausch. “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 advertised as a recording contract worth $1 million. This figure has since decreased dramatically, with Season 16 winner Maddie Poppe revealing that she only received a $250,000 prize for winning her 2018 season. Poppe added that she received half of the prize money (after taxes) before recording her debut album, and the second half after the album had been released.
“It’s just like an advance from the record deal,” Poppe added in a 2022 interview with Business Insider. “But I’m pretty sure I have to recoup it.”
Kelly Clarkson Never Received the Car She was Promised for Winning ‘American Idol’
NBCWhile the million-dollar recording contract RCA Records certainly helped to set Clarkson up for a legendary career – which has since seen her sell over 82 million records worldwide – she added that she similarly never received the car she was promised as part of her prize package.
“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 continued.
“And then Clay Aiken, who didn’t win the second season, got a car – and [so did] his mom!” she added, referring to the “American Idol” Season 2 runner-up. “I was like, ‘What the —?’ 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.”
The news follows after “American Idol” Season 4 champion Carrie Underwood – who’s since returned to the competition series as part of the judging panel – opened up about the fact that she still owns and drives the blue Ford Mustang she won as part of her prize package in 2005.
“I do still have the car that I won when I won ‘American Idol,’” Underwood reported in a March 2023 interview with Today’s Country Radio With Kelleigh Bannen. “So I have my blue Mustang.”
“It always makes me want to drive it more, because it was such a pivotal point in my life,” she continued. “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.”
Check out Kelly Clarkson’s full interview with “Traitors” champion Rob Rausch on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” below!
