Kelly Clarkson may have won American Idolbut her recollection about who won the seasons after her is a little bit hazy.
The “Stronger” singer, 42, suffered a hilarious slip-up on Monday’s episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show when she forgot mid-interview with Clay Aiken that he didn’t win season 2 of the reality competition series. Aiken, 46, actually placed second on the show, with Ruben Studdard, 46, winning the title of 2003’s American Idol.
“We spent a lot of time, we toured, I won the season before you, but we toured after you won,” Clarkson told Aiken at the start of their interview. “The Independent Tour, I think, is what it was called.”
A sheepish-looking Aiken then interjected, “I came in second.”
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“You what?” Clarkson asked, to which Aiken reiterated, “After I came in second.”
Maintaining her composure, Clarkson then simply turned toward the camera to deliver a brief message to Studdard. “So sorry, Ruben! I totally remember that,” she said, before admitting, “Look, I’m 42, bro. Okay, like, I forgot.”
Aiken quickly came to her defense. “It’s been 20 years,” he noted. “We are both getting older.”
Clarkson explained that, for some reason, she has it stuck in her head that Studdard and Aiken were on different seasons of the show. She was also well aware that Studdard would likely be up in arms over her accidentally declaring Aiken the winner. “I love that he’s gonna be like, ‘I won, but, fine,’” she joked.
Aiken replied, “He will be calling me without question.”
What makes Clarkson’s misremembering even more hilarious is that she was actually in attendance on the finale episode where Studdard was crowned the next American Idol. She sang her hit “Miss Independent” and even joined the season’s Top 12 contestants — standing directly in between Studdard and Aiken — for a performance of Barry Manilow’s 1979 single, “One Voice.”
However, even without winning IdolClarkson told Aiken that he was the one in demand on their 2004 co-headlining tour — not her. “Now bringing up the winning thing, see, now, I actually did win, but I don’t know if you remember this, and you probably do, but no one cared that I was there,” she said. “No one! That whole tour! I have people that were on stage with us there.”
She then pointed toward music director Jason Halbert, who agreed with her assessment.
“Jason was on tour with us too and I’m telling you, it was as if I didn’t exist. You were… It was like Elvis was in the building every night,” she said. “And you didn’t even have to win, you didn’t win and then people were losing it over you. It was so fun to watch.”
Watch Aiken and Clarkson reminisce about being on tour together — and how she would break into his house to ransack his fridge — in the clip above.
