ABC "American Idol"
“American Idol” finalists get a lot of publicity from their time on the show, which sometimes means they have to take additional security measures after the show.
Melinda Doolittle was a finalist on the sixth season of the show, and after she was done, she got some advice from actress Nicole Kidman, she told Insider in celebration of the show’s 20th anniversary.
“Nobody was talking to her,” Doolittle said of her encounter with Kidman. “I had a line at my table and I was like, ‘I do not understand, Nicole Kidman is right there.”
Doolittle Got Advice From Kidman
Fans swarmed Doolittle, she said, and she “couldn’t eat” because everyone was talking to her. Kidman later asked her to come over to the table before leaving.
“She was like, ‘Hey, honey, we’re so proud of you,'” Doolitle told Insider that Kidman said. “‘We watched you on the show. And I just want to tell you to invest in security.”
Doolittle shared that Kidman added, “For me, people have just seen me on screen, so they don’t relate to me that way. But for you, you’re one of them. And so they feel just fine walking up to your dinner table and not letting you eat. So you need to have someone with you, so you can eat.”
The singer said she then hired security for the next six months and told Insider that she believes the advice was some of the best she’d ever received.
Other Finalists Have Slammed ‘Idol’
Sanjaya told Insider about his time on the show and what his life has been like since he auditioned, including feeling like he was always the “butt of the joke” during his time with the show.
The singer revealed that he was asked to come back to the show for season 20 in 2022, but he wanted to set some ground rules before flying out for the show.
“I’m totally down,” Sanjaya says he told the “American Idol” producers when they called to see if he would come back. “I just want to say one thing: Every time I’ve ever gone on to ‘American Idol,’ I’ve been the butt of the joke. If I do come back, it would be really great if I was able to present myself as an artist, not as a reality-television joke.”
He said that they later called him to tell him his flight out would be “too expensive” for the show.
Sanjaya told Insider, “I guess boundaries are expensive.”
Season 13 winner Caleb Johnson spoke with Insider about his time on “American Idol” and why he was actually “really bummed” that he won his season.
The debut single was written by Justin Hawkins and it is titled “As Long as You Love Me.”
“I knew that, by de facto, if you won you had to sing the song, and the song was just utter crap,” Johnson told the outlet. “Like it was just the worst song ever.”
“American Idol” is expected to return in the spring of 2023 for season 21 of the show. Each of the three judges and host Ryan Seacrest are expected to return.