American Idol Finalists
(with dates of elimination)
Season 1 (2002)
Kelly Clarksonwinner
Justin Guarini4 September
Nikki McKibbin28 August
Tamyra Gray21 August
RJ Helton14 August
Christina Christian7 August
Ryan Starr31 July
A.J. Gil24 July
EJay Day17 July
Jim Verraros17 July
Season 2 (2003)
Ruben Studdardwinner
Clay Aiken21 May
Kimberley Locke14 May
Joshua Gracin7 May
Trenyce30 April
Carmen Rasmusen23 April
Kimberly Caldwell16 April
Rickey Smith9 April
Corey Clarkedisqualified,
1 April
Julia DeMato26 March
Charles Grigsby19 March
Vanessa Olivarez12 March

American Idol is a television show on the Fox Network, based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The show is a contest to determine the best young singer in the United States.

In the show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, people first audition before three judges (Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson). Eventually, the performers are narrowed down to twelve finalists. After that, each contestant performs live (on the East Coast) in primetime a song from a weekly theme, which have included disco and Billboard #1 hits. Viewers have several hours following the broadcast of the show to phone in their votes for their favorite contestant. Callers are allowed to vote as many times as they like for any number of contestants. On the following night's episode (live again), the contestant with the fewest votes is sent home.

In the first season, Kelly Clarkson won, with Justin Guarini coming in second. Numerous television specials starring the ten finalists followed, as well as a movie entitled From Justin to Kelly.

In season two, Ruben Studdard was the winner with Clay Aiken as runner up. Out of 24 million votes cast, Studdard finished just 130,000 votes ahead of Aiken, although there remains controversy over the validity of the reported results, and Aiken has enjoyed more widepsread popularity.

A spin-off series called American Juniors premiered on June 3, and the next season of American Idol will premiere in January 2004.

Canada got its own version in August-September 2003, called Canadian Idol, hosted by Ben Mulroney, son of former PM Brian Mulroney.

In December 2003, winners of eleven different national Idol competitions were collected for a World Idol competition in London.

See also: teen idol.

External links