‘American Idol’ Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks is clearing up the confusion surrounding her prize from the show. This came to light when Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson revealed that her prize wasn’t what she initially expected.
Jordin Sparks reveals she got the car
On Monday, March 16, season 6 winner Jordin Sparks appeared on ‘TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle’. Guest co-host Justin Sylvester, who was there in place of Jenna Bush Hager, asked Sparks about recent reports that not all ‘American Idol’ winners had received their promised prizes. “I got my car,” Sparks, 36, replied. “Look, I wasn’t a part of Season 1. But the first season of anything is a little crazy,” she said in defense of the show. “I hope they give her one now. Send her a Ford.”
Kelly Clarkson’s confession
Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson revealed on the March 10 episode of her eponymous talk show that her prize wasn’t what she initially expected. During a conversation with The Traitors season 4 winner Rob Rausch, he revealed he had not received his USD 220,800 prize, and Clarkson, 43, replied that she related “so hardcore” to that experience.“I literally was on (American Idol), 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,” she said. She added that she was told that she would win a car, but she didn’t, unlike later-season contestants. “Clay Aiken, who didn’t win the second season, got a car and his mom (also got a car)!”While Clarkson claims she didn’t receive her car, she seems to be one of the select few. Like Sparks and Aiken, season 4 winner Carrie Underwood was gifted a Ford Mustang convertible. “I do still have the car that I won when I won American Idol. So I have my blue Mustang,” Underwood, 43, said during an interview on the Apple Music series Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen in 2023. Carrie Underwood still had the car in her possession as of 2023.
