What do American Idol contestants do when they’re not appearing on the show?
They stay pretty busy.
Second season winner Ruben Studdard recalled how busy his schedule was with song selection, preparation, singing lessons and filming for show packages and commercials.
“Thursday we got the songs,” he recalled in an interview with 2023 West Byrd. “Friday we picked the songs. Friday through Saturday we recorded commercials. Sunday we made the final selections. Then Sunday through Monday we went into the studio to make sure everything was right for the track. And then on Tuesday morning we did a dry run of the show, top to bottom. So when you see the package and people say, ‘You should vote for X, Y, Z,’ that was already recorded on Tuesday morning.”
Then of course there is the actual show. “Wednesday is the elimination and then it starts all over again,” Ruben added. “And it becomes even more difficult when the group gets smaller because the work is the same.”
Jena Irene Asciutto expressed a similar opinion.
“As the weeks went by and people were eliminated, the people who were left were responsible for filling that time slot,” the Season 13 runner-up told Business Insider. “So we were needed for more things. And I think we were in the top eight when we started doing Ford commercials every Sunday.”
