Kelly Clarkson may be American Idol’s first-ever winner, but the artist hasn’t exactly been keeping up with the show. Two decades after being named Idol‘s premiere winner, the “Since U Been Gone” singer admitted on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen Tuesday that she couldn’t name any of her fellow winners from the past five years.
The Grammy winner, who just released her new studio album Chemistry, was put to the test during a game of “Plead the Fifth,” during which host Andy Cohen asked her, “Can you name an American Idol winner from the last five years?” Clarkson immediately answered with a laugh, “Oh s-,” before adding, “In fairness, I don’t – OK… huh,” and looking up at the ceiling. Finally, she excitedly replied, “No no no! I got one!” while trying to piece together a winner’s name. Ultimately, she admitted, “No. No, I don’t have one.”
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Clarkson became the first-ever American Idol winner in 2002 and has gone on to release 10 albums, win three Grammys, host The Kelly Clarkson Show and star as a coach on NBC’s The Voice. Since American Idol moved to ABC in 2018, its winners have been Maddie Poppe (Season 16), Laine Hardy (Season 17), Just Sam (Season 18), Chayce Beckham (Season 19), Noah Thompson (Season 20), and the most recently-crowned winner, Iam Tongi (Season 21).
There is one Idol winner Clarkson was able to discuss during Tuesday’s WWHL, and that’s Carrie Underwood, who was the Season 4 champion. When a caller on the Bravo late-night show began to ask Clarkson a question about the country star, she interrupted, “I think I know where you’re going with this,” adding, “People always pit us together, and we don’t even know each other well enough to be pitted together.” She continued, “Literally, we’ve run into each other a handful of times. There’s no beef between us.”
The “Breakaway” singer was then embarrassed when the caller finished her question, which actually was asking Clarkson’s “favorite part” of having Underwood on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Embarrassed by her strong initial reaction, the singer clarified, “Everybody always asks me the ‘pitted against each other’ question. The thing that was cool about it is that everybody always pits us against each other. They don’t do that with dudes.”
