With now just one contestant eliminated per week, American Idol has minimized its pace and maximized its excitement. David Hernandez was that lone castoff last week, much to his surprise. But unsurprisingly, the 24-year-old was mum on the chatter surrounding his recently revealed past as a stripper in his native Arizona.
On his ‘wow’ reaction upon being eliminated:
“I was genuinely shocked. I really didn’t think that I would be going home. Honestly, based on all the things the judges had said about my vocals, I thought that I would definitely be in the bottom three, but I didn’t feel like I deserved to go home. But, everything, as I said, happens for a reason–as I said on the show. But yes, when I said ‘wow,’ I was genuinely…’wow.'”
On The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck‘s belief that his elimination might’ve been a ‘conspiracy’:
“First of all, I would like to thank Elisabeth for defending me and feeling that I was eliminated a little prematurely, but I don’t like to speculate about that kind of stuff, because I like to have faith in Idol. They’ve given me this huge platform and I totally respect everything that they do on that show. If that was the case, it really doesn’t matter anymore–I’m off the show. I’m not going back on, obviously, unless they were to pull me as a wildcard, which would be amazing. But I would like to think that America voted on me and it was legitimate.”
On the potential for skeletons in his closet being brought out during the show:
“I’m not ashamed of anything that I’ve done in my past. I’m actually looking forward to moving on in the future, because singing is really what matters in my career, and that’s what mattered in the competition. So, no, the only thing I was worried about was my song selection.”
