American Idol (season 5) American Idol (season 5) The fifth season of reality television singing competition "American Idol" began on January 17, 2006, and concluded on May 24, 2006. Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell returned to judge, and Ryan Seacrest returned to host. It is the most successful season to date ratings-wise, and resulted in 18 contestants (including all of the top 10 and a few semifinalists) getting record deals – nine of them with major labels. It was the first season with a male winner (Taylor Hicks) and a female runner-up (Katharine McPhee). It was also the first season of the
Asian Idol Idol" performance show. The Idols performed two songs each—one in English and another in their native language. In addition to the coverage of "Asian Idol", RCTI ran a series of features called "Asian Idol Extra" between late November to mid-December 2007. Every competing country sent a judge to serve as the contestants' critics, but comments from only three judges on each performer were shown due to time constraints. Special guests in the Results Show included "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks, "Australian Idol" winner Guy Sebastian, "Indian Idol" judge Alisha Chinai, and "Vietnam Idol" judge Siu Black. It also featured performances