Jordin Sparks Clarifies Whether She Received a Car for Winning “American Idol” After Kelly Clarkson Didn’t

Charna FlamTue, March 17, 2026 at 2:11 AM UTC

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Jordin Sparks; Kelly ClarksonCredit: Tommaso Boddi/Variety via Getty; Noam Galai/Getty -

Kelly Clarkson revealed on the March 10 episode of her eponymous talk show that her American Idol prize was not as advertised — and she never received the promised car

Then, on Monday, March 16, season 6 winner Jordin Sparks was asked on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle whether or not she received her car

Sparks also added of Clarkson, "I hope they give her one now. Send her a Ford.”

Jordin Sparks is clearing up questions about the winning prize of American Idol.

On Monday, March 16, the season 6 winner appeared on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle. Guest co-host Justin Sylvester, who was there in place of Jenna Bush Hager, asked Sparks about recent reports that not all American Idol winners had received their promised prizes.

“I got my car,” Sparks, 36, sheepishly replied.

“Look, I wasn’t a part of Season 1. But the first season of anything is a little crazy,” she said in defense of the show. “I hope they give her one now. Send her a Ford.”

Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson revealed on the March 10 episode of her eponymous talk show that her prize wasn’t what she initially expected. During a conversation with The Traitors season 4 winner Rob Rausch, he revealed he had not received his $220,800 prize, and Clarkson, 43, replied that she related “so hardcore" to that experience.

"I literally was on [American Idol], and they were like, ‘Oh, you win a million dollars’ or whatever. No, you didn’t. It was, like, a million dollars worth of investment in you,” she said.

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She added that she was told that she would win a car, but she didn’t, unlike later-season contestants. “Clay Aiken, who didn’t win the second season, got a car and his mom [also got a car]!"

Jordin Sparks on American Idol; Kelly Clarkson on American IdolCredit: Lester Cohen/WireImage; Kevin Winter/Getty

While Clarkson didn’t receive her car, she seems to be one of the select few. Like Sparks and Aiken, season 4 winner Carrie Underwood was gifted a Ford Mustang convertible — and still had it in her possession as of 2023.

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"I do still have the car that I won when I won American Idol. So I have my blue Mustang," Underwood, 43, said during an interview on the Apple Music series Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen in 2023.

"It always makes me want to drive it more, because it was such a pivotal point in my life," continued the singer, who won the show back in 2005. "That was the car that I was driving around when I first moved to Tennessee, and I’m very, very glad I still have that car."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”