Jordin Sparks has revealed what she won after competing on and winning the sixth season of American Idol after Kelly Clarkson claimed last week that she never received her promised car and $1 million cash prize.
The conversation came up during Monday’s episode of Today With Jenna and Sheinelle, when the guest host, Justin Sylvester, asked her if she had the same problem as the show’s inaugural winner, Clarkson.
“When Kelly Clarkson said she won American Idol, they didn’t run her that bag. And she didn’t get her million dollars or brand new car. She said she didn’t get her prize money,” Sylvester said. “I’m wondering, Jordin Sparks, did you secure the bag?”
The “Battlefield” singer replied that she did get a car — a Ford Mustang convertible.
“Look, I wasn’t a part of season one. But the first season of anything is a little crazy,” she said. “I hope they give her one now. Send her a Ford.”
Clarkson spoke about her lack of winnings during an episode of her daytime talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, last week. The host was interviewing The Traitors star Rob Rausch, who said he had yet to receive his $220,800 cash prize after winning season four last month.
“I relate to this so hard core,” Clarkson exclaimed, “because whenever I won, you probably weren’t alive when I was on American Idol, but I literally was on the show, and they were like, ‘Oh, you win $1 million or whatever.’ No, you didn’t. They lied.”
Shocked by the revelation, Rausch and fellow guest Daniel Radcliffe asked what she was gifted instead.
The host explained that the winnings were not actually $1 million, but rather “$1 million worth of investment in you.”
Clarkson was just 20 when she appeared on the singing competition series. She triumphed in the finale, beating Justin Guarini with a performance of her debut single, “A Moment Like This.”
She said that she was also told she would get a car, which she needed at the time because “my car was bashed in, and I couldn’t afford the deductible.”
“And no! I did not get a car,” she said, adding that she later learned American Idol’s season two runner-up, Clay Aiken, and his mom had both been given cars.
“I remember Clay telling me that the second season,” Clarkson recalled. “He was like, ‘Yeah, they gave my mom one,’ and I was like, ‘I’m gonna actually kick your ass right now.’”
ABC did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
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