American Idol (season 4) American Idol (season 4) The fourth season of "American Idol" premiered on January 18, 2005 and continued until May 25, 2005. It was hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell also returned to judge. Carrie Underwood won the season with approximately 500 million votes cast in the season and 37 million for the finale. Underwood has since gone on to become a seven-time Grammy-winning country megastar. While in the past seasons celebrity guest judges have been invited to participate during the competition, this was the first season where guest judges were invited to participate in the
Pop Idol the world, including original "Pop Idol" winner Will Young, "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson and "Australian Idol" winner Guy Sebastian, competed in a one-off competition, complete with a large judging panel featuring one judge from each country (Simon Cowell officially representing "American Idol", with Pete Waterman the "official" UK judge). The surprise winner was Norway's Kurt Nilsen, who proceeded to minor UK chart success. Cowell was strongly critical of "World Idol", and it is highly unlikely to be staged again. After the second series of "Pop Idol", ITV put the show on indefinite hiatus when in April 2004 judge and