Reality TV juggernaut American Idol is finally saying goodbye after 15 seasons on the air, which finds fans, critics, former contestants and judges alike opining the singing competition’s storied history and floundering later seasons. In its earlier years the show produced such idols as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson, but as the seasons progressed, interest (and ratings) waned to the point where even a Mariah-Nicki judges’ beef couldn’t save it.

As the show celebrates its anniversary this summer (it premiered in June 2002), we spoke with past contestants Melinda Doolittle, the bashful former backup singer who came in third during Season 6, and Jon Peter Lewis, better known as JPL (and the endearingly Simon Cowell-dubbed “pen salesman”), who placed eighth in Season 3 about their history on Idol and their thoughts about the show’s ending and lasting legacy.

Melinda Doolittle, Season 6

Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks during American Idol's Top 12 Finalists Party in West Hollywood, Calif. in March 2007 (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)

One of my good friends talked me into going with him to Memphis to audition. There were 16,000 people there! I'm forever grateful for that one producer, Ron, who saw beyond my nervousness and put me through that day. Being on the show was amazing and traumatic all at the same time. I still can't believe I got to be mentored by Diana Ross and Tony Bennett and the like. It was such an awesome opportunity and it totally scared the living daylights out of me. I think with anything you can find a downside, but I have to tell you, I'm having a hard time coming up with some. I mean, the only drawback I can think of is that sometimes becoming an artist on a reality TV singing competition makes people think you didn't pay your dues, but I didn't run into that much at all. 

The show changed my entire career. I had been a background singer for some amazing artists, but American Idol gave me the opportunity to step up front. I've been honored to sing at The White House, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...just to name a few. I've released two CDs and a book, and I travel all over the place getting to sing to amazing audiences. 

I feel like American Idol single-handedly changed the face of television and music. They allowed the audience to be a part of making history and they allowed amazing contestants to get their due. It gave our country people to cheer for and it was a show the entire family could come together to watch. It produced stars you never would have seen and had no idea you'd been waiting on for so long. American Idol made judges and juries out of us all and so many other shows have followed suit, but there will never be another.

I'm sad about the show ending, but all great things come to an end. People have been predicting the show's demise for years now, but they've outlasted so many critics. Maybe it's time, maybe it's not. I personally don't want it to end, but I know viewership has lowered drastically and I get how important that is to a network. 

Jon Peter Lewis, Season 3

Jon Peter Lewis at Molly Malone's in Los Angeles, Calif. on April 11, 2006. (Photo by Paul Redmond/WireImage)

[Before auditioning for American Idol] I had never watched the show. I remember I was in a little theater company at the time, trying to get more exposure for myself, and my friends had a video recorded of American Idol and I came across it and I thought, I could probably do that. I went to Hawaii, which was the only place I could audition because of my schedule. I sat in line for a day and a half; it was one of the most intimidating experiences. I remember I just kept thinking, What the hell am I doing? Why have I gone to all of this expense to come to Hawaii to audition for a TV show I’ve never seen? I had to calm myself down. Luckily things worked. The first audition was this giant cattle call audition—there were [thousands of] people there –it was massive. They brought in 10 people at a time, and if they liked you you’d go out one portal, if they didn’t, out the other. I tried not to let it play tricks with mind, and I made it through that round.

Then we had to audition for the executive producers. They told me to dress to impress. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was a super naive kid living in rural Idaho, had recently come back from a Mormon mission. It was like a scene out of Book of Mormon, super out of my element and unaware of a lot of things. I literally had brought a backpack with three changes of clothes: street clothes, church clothes with a shirt and tie, then just swim trunks. I remember I was thinking, I can’t go out and buy anything so I guess I’ll just wear my church clothes. Simon was like, “Well you look like a pen salesman.”

Each week [during the competition, I was] constantly confronted with things. I remember being super uncomfortable with song and dance numbers. I didn’t want to be what the stereotype of American Idol was, but I really didn't know at the time how to accomplish that. I constantly was making choices that were reflective of someone who didn’t really know what was going on. But I don’t regret it. I was definitely in over my head, but as time went on I became more savvy. It was a phenomenal experience. One week I was in college and the next week I was jamming with Elton John. Whatever the negatives, there were too many positives.

At the time we were early enough [in the show] that American Idol was truly seeking people who were amateurs. They really wanted to created the story that they had molded you out of something. There weren’t too many people who were on the show who had had previous music experience. Some just kind of took it more in stride. No one complained too much. It was an intense experience. Suddenly you’re on television, suddenly you’re having people with signs and fans. I was incredibly weirded out by the fact that I had fans. 

I understood that the moment I stepped onto the stage, the people I was competing with weren’t the people on the show with me; they were the people on the radio. I was just thinking about the bigger picture the entire time and constantly comparing myself to what the big picture was.

[After the show] we all had this expectation of success regardless of whether or not we won. When we went on tour there were thousands of screaming fans at every venue. I think there was just expectations that things were going to work; it was hard to not feel that. The big thing that people don't understand is that when you’re on American Idol, you are the biggest music star and the biggest TV star at that time, but you’re neither one at the same time. Because a TV star has a TV show. And a music star has a hit. So you fall in this bizarre category. That was the thing that people didn’t realize: that the star was the process and not really the people. For me that translated into I knew that I wanted to make my own record and write my own songs and be an artist, but I had very little understanding of what that process entailed.

[In retrospect] I think I would do things [after the show] a little differently. I created music right away and sat on it for a while without releasing it. I didn’t realize my shelf life is very, very, very sort. I’m still proud of the process that I went through of learning, of making the records and making the mistakes that I did. It led me to a place where I’m very, very happy with my most recent projects and what it all culminated to. I don't particularly love my past records now. I think you look back at some of the work that you've done and it’s like looking at back at pics of yourself from junior high school.

The funny thing about American Idol, it turns former stars into American Idol pundits. It was really funny for me to see, after years had gone by. Contestants leave the show and have a pretty strong sense of entitlement then they’d release records, and some wouldn't do very well and some would do pretty well. Only a few had success continue at that same level. A lot of people were looking for ways to be in the public eye, taking whatever TV gig they could. I went through that same phase where I was looking for every TV gig that I possibly could—sure I’ll be your celebrity guest correspondent – and that made me keep paying attention to the show. It’s been very interesting to watch the transition of it all. At the time people didn’t really know what it was they had, and then I think every year you’d start to see contestants more savvy to the process. It gave me a lot of anxiety watching it. Every time I’d hear the theme music my heart would start racing, and then I would be standing watching the show and shouting at the television, “You idiot! Stupid!” I never really loved the formula to begin with, so watching it from that perspective was something.

I used to run this webseries, the American Nobody show, an outlet for me to recap American Idol in way I wanted to. I’d recap the show in poorly drawn pictures and have former Idols on the show. I would get a chance to poke fun at them. It’s complex because I’m intensely grateful for it, I just don't think it’s a very great musical experience. I think it’s a phenomenal television show, but musically it just doesn’t do much for me. But it’s been great—I’ve been able to be a musician for 10 years.

I’m not surprised it’s coming to a close. I feel like it’s definitely time. As far as them going out on top, it’s hard for me to think “on top” because it’s been fizzling for years now. I think people are kind of tired of the idea of it. … People don’t care about the formula nearly as much as they did. It was really fun and I’m super happy to have been a part of it. For all the complaints I may have, it was a really great thing for me. It sent me down a career path that put a lot of my boyhood dreams into reality. It’s hard to be bitter about it.