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
American Idol Extra first exit interview is now conducted on "Live with Regis and Kelly". No other elements of this program have survived. Weekly segments include interviews with audience members who watched the performance show, interviews with past "Idol" contestants, a trivia contest, and a viewer question submitted by text messages from AT&T (formerly Cingular) subscribers. American Idol Extra American Idol Extra is a television show that was shown on the Fox Reality Channel and Star! and billed as "the show that picks up right where "American Idol" leaves off". The program featured the first full-length interview with the most recent eliminated contestant