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.

“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.

“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.