American Idol Contestants Who Quit The Competition

Back in the day, appearing on "American Idol" was considered a golden ticket to a career in the industry, and if you quit the show, one might argue you were throwing away your shot at fame and fortune. After all, in its early years, "American Idol" produced massive stars. Kelly Clarkson is still a household name, as are "Idol" vets like Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, and Adam Lambert.

If you're finding yourself wondering whatever happened to some "American Idol" winners like Lee DeWyze, though, you're not alone; the show isn't what it used to be. Plenty of people have won the reality competition series since it hopped from FOX to ABC, but very few of them have gone on to be actual stars. And so, it's no longer such a big deal when people quit "American Idol" in the middle of the season. If winning is no longer a guarantee of success, many contestants have felt the need to preserve their dignity and step away. Others have dealt with personal issues that have prevented them from continuing in the competition, and still others seem to have been urged to hit the road to save themselves the indignity of being disqualified.

Some people who stepped away from "American Idol" have found success anyway, their voices simply too impressive for them to toil away in obscurity. Others have quite happily returned to their lives, totally fine with the fact that they're no longer competing for the adoration of millions of people. Read on to learn about the contestants who have quit "American Idol."

When Kenedi Anderson first tried out for "American Idol" Season 20, she blew everyone away. Sitting at the piano, she crooned out a rendition of Lady Gaga's "Applause" that even had Katy Perry smiling, despite the fact that "Applause" infamously went up against her own song "Roar" on the charts. Playing on the nickname for her own fanbase, Perry told the blonde Virginian, "I'm a Kenni-Cat! ... I'm feeling threatened." Anderson not only earned a standing ovation from the judging panel; she also, quite easily, got her ticket to Hollywood.

She made it to that season's Top 24, but Anderson decided to drop out instead of continuing on in the competition. She announced the shocking move on Instagram, telling her budding fanbase, "This has been one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make, but I know it's necessary." Anderson didn't explain why, exactly, it was necessary, closing out the post by gushing, "Thank you for giving me such an amazing opportunity to share my voice, chase my dreams, feel so much joy and happiness doing what I love, and make lifelong friends along the way."

Since she left the show, Anderson has put out music under just her first name. In 2024, she released a single called "Nothing Hurts." On Instagram, she shared a snap of herself on a cake, writing, "THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LOVE AND SUPPORT I'VE RECEIVED FOR NOTHING HURTS ... LOVE Y'ALL FOREVER ... KEEP STREAMING !!"

"American Idol" contestants may not be guaranteed stardom anymore, but there's one who's undeniably broken that curse. Benson Boone, the backflipping "Beautiful Things" belter, appeared on the talent competition back in 2021. When he auditioned for "American Idol" Season 19, he told the judges that he'd only really started singing a year earlier. "It's become a really big passion of mine really quickly," he said, not yet sporting the mustache that would come to define his image. His rendition of Aidan Martin's "Punchline" stunned everyone, leading Katy Perry to remark, "They're gonna swoon over Benson Boone!"

He made it to the Top 24, and then, he decided he'd had enough. Boone's music was already picking up on TikTok, and he decided that the show's platform was no longer necessary to find the kind of success he wanted. He stepped away from "American Idol," and as we all know, he was soon showing off his vocal and physical acrobatics on stages all over the world. Fans are even invested in Boone's relationship with his girlfriend, Maggie Thurmon.

In 2025, Boone told BBC Radio 2 that he'd seen the former judge recently backstage at an awards show. According to Boone, Perry passed on some words of wisdom about the online hate he'd been receiving as his career took off. He was only 18 when he was on the show, and now he's had a few years to grow up before dealing with the public. Boone recalled, "She was like, 'Leaving that show was like, the best thing you ever did.'"

Sarah Beth Liebe appeared on "American Idol" Season 21 in 2023, surprising the judges when she told them she was a mother of three. Katy Perry cracked a joke about that, telling the young woman that she'd spent too much time on her back, leaving Liebe looking visibly uncomfortable. She made it to Hollywood, but after performing "Roxanne" by The Police, Liebe shocked the judges once again. "This opportunity is really rad but this is actually going to be my last performance cause my heart's at home, so I'm gonna get home to my babies," she said (via Deadline). "They kinda need me."

The judges convinced her to come back onstage in an effort to get her to stay. "Remember, self-love is just as big as motherly love," Perry told her. It wasn't enough; Liebe did indeed walk away from "Idol" and head back home to her children.

In a since-deleted TikTok, Liebe addressed the "mom-shaming" joke that Perry had made at her expense. "It was embarrassing to have that on TV and it was hurtful, and that's that. But I did want to take this opportunity to just say that I think that women supporting and uplifting other women is so cool," she added, "and I think that mom-shaming is super lame."

Kaya Stewart walked into her "American Idol" Season 21 audition with a trick up her sleeve. In later seasons, the show allowed people to bring others with them in order to accompany their songs on instruments, and Stewart brought along her father to play guitar on an original song. Kaya Stewart's father, it turns out, is Dave Stewart from Eurythmics, a fact that seemed to majorly impress the judges. After giving Dave props for supporting his daughter's dream, judge Lionel Richie told the "Idol" hopeful that her pipes, too, were impressive enough to earn her a ticket to Hollywood. "You slayed it," Richie said. "I love the tone of your voice, and you're an artist. You're really an artist." 

Unfortunately, unlike some contestants who have quit "American Idol" because of issues unrelated to the competition, Kaya decided to walk away rather than perform at a level that wasn't up to her standards. While preparing to sing a duet with a fellow contestant, she fell ill, leading to issues with her voice and brain fog that made it difficult to remember lyrics. "I realize that I wasn't able to give 100% so I've decided to not perform," she said after taking the stage (via People). "I'm really grateful that I got to be here and thank you guys, but I'm not gonna be performing."

"American Idol" has always loved a good story. The most epic "American Idol" auditions ever often included some kind of narrative that viewers could latch on to, something about a singer that they could root for besides just a voice. In Wyatt Pike's case, he walked into the "American Idol" Season 19 audition room with a prop. He hadn't only brought along his guitar; he also brought the box that he uses to collect tips when he busks, performing on the street for money. "Wyatt Pike's Ticket Goes Here!" the box said. It worked, and Luke Bryan happily dropped the golden ticket right where Pike wanted it.

Pike continued to impress in Hollywood, but then, during the episode that would've announced the season's Top 12 finalists who were moving on to the live shows, "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest told viewers (via People), "Before we get to the results, I have to tell you that finalist Wyatt Pike will not be competing in the competition. He had to drop out, but we wish him the very best."

Though he didn't go into specifics, Pike later took to Instagram to confirm his departure. "I had to leave the @AmericanIdol competition for personal reasons but am so thankful I get to play music for the rest of my life," he wrote. "Fellow contestants — miss you all, good luck!" He now releases music independently, including an acoustic EP in 2025 called "Face the Weather."

When a handsome guy named Nick Merico walked into the "American Idol" audition room to try out for Season 17, Katy Perry was immediately flustered. "Oh my gosh, you are a hunkasaurus rex!" she exclaimed. Telling him to step back a bit, "American Idol" judge Luke Bryan joked, "Katy's gonna lunge at you!" Merico wound up dropping out before the competition got very far. "Unfortunately, something happened with my family that I can't really disclose," he told "The Colt Balok Show." "That forced me to back out of the competition because I had to take care of some things with my family."

Unlike most of the contestants on this list, Merico tried out again the following year. He seemed a bit entitled to another shot at going all the way, and the judges weren't having it. According to Taste of Country, Lionel Richie gave him a dressing-down. "I don't like you. I gotta be honest with you, I don't like you and for some weird reason it's not sitting well with me," he said. "I don't like your attitude and I don't really think you're gonna make it in Hollywood."

Merico told TrooMe that he understood that moments like this can make for good TV, so he didn't take the negative feedback too personally. "At the end of the day, when the cameras are off and I'm singing, and I'm close to tears because the notes are so powerful," he said, "I know that I'm doing something right."

When Taryn Coccia auditioned for "American Idol" Season 16, she brought along her older sister Payton Taylor to play guitar. The judges thought Coccia was fine, but they were very impressed by Taylor's guitar skills, and they asked her to audition, too. Taylor's audition blew her sister's out of the water, and she immediately got a ticket to Hollywood. Ultimately, after some convincing — again, remember that they're first and foremost trying to make entertaining television — the judges decided to give Coccia a ticket, too. Sisters forced to compete against one another ... That's a great storyline, right? It likely felt irresistible for "Idol" producers; after all, there have been many big scandals in "American Idol" history, so they probably wouldn't have been too upset about these sisters going at each other's throats.

These sisters, however, were not interested in being pawns in the reality-television game. Taylor announced on Facebook that, although both siblings had ultimately been given tickets to Hollywood, they weren't interested in fighting each other on national television. Instead, they'd decided to independently release two separate singles. "We are sisters on a mission. We are both about to launch our singles respectively and are ready to put the hard work into carving our own paths individually," she wrote, "ALWAYS having each others backs. It's never a competition with us."

Tiquila Wilson auditioned for "American Idol" Season 13. In an interview leading up to Hollywood Week that the show posted on YouTube, Wilson reflected on her experience thus far. Reflecting on the audition process, Wilson only had positive things to say. "I wasn't really nervous, even though Jennifer [Lopez] said I was nervous," she said. "I just went in there and gave them what I had to give them, and they loved me."

Wilson's religion was a main storyline during her time on the show. She proudly told the camera, "God is dwelling in me, and I want people to see Him, and notice Him, and know that He is the best friend that they could ever have. Musically-wise, He just does His thing, and I just bring it out!"

Ultimately, though, she decided to head back home to Utah in that very same Hollywood episode. According to FOX8, Wilson felt that she didn't fit in because her genre of music wasn't what most people on the show were familiar with. "All I know is gospel music," she said. "And then too, a lot of people might not understand my decision, but I had a little talk with my God and He assured me that everything would be all right."

The first major, high-profile "American Idol" exit happened during Season 4, when Mario Vazquez dropped out. He had just made the show's Top 12, but he didn't even compete on one of the live shows before walking away from "Idol." At the time, he told The Associated Press (via Today) that the sudden mega-fame had become a lot to handle. "My gut and intuition told me it wasn't time to do this. I had to focus on some personal areas in my life with the little bit of privacy that I have," he said.

At the time, the show was big enough that even someone who dropped out before the Top 12 would retain a ton of fans. He even picked up a recording contract anyway, signing with legendary producer Clive Davis. A few years after his "Idol" appearance, Vazquez spoke with ArjanWrites about his debut album. "It had a lot to do with artistic reasons. It was the number one priority for me to have artistic control," he said. "I realized that creating my own sound was a major thing for me."

That might not have been the case. In 2007, two years after he'd been on "Idol," a former employee of the show filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit. He'd been let go, he said, because he alleged to higher-ups that Vazquez had sexually harassed him. He also maintained that Vazquez was cut from the show after the allegations were made. As the former employee's attorney told "Access Hollywood" (via Today), "I believe [Vazquez's departure] was not voluntary in any way shape or form." Vazquez reportedly denied everything; a source claimed to Fox News, "It never happened."

"American Idol" has had shocking eliminations, surprise winners, major controversies, and minor disappointments. Season 4 contestant Marlea Stroman made "Idol" history for a different reason entirely: she was the first contestant to ever drop out of the show after she'd been given a ticket to Hollywood. Stroman told The Post-Standard (via OhNoTheyDidn't!) that she'd headed to Hollywood to film, but then heard that her infant son was sick back home in Syracuse. "I wasn't there and when babies are sick, they need their mommies," she reflected.

She also said she'd been shy about singing in front of people, and she found the Hollywood atmosphere much different than the auditions had been, so perhaps going on the biggest show on television wasn't the best idea. "I'm more comfortable singing in my room with the door shut," she said. "I even get nervous singing in front of my family. I know I have what it takes, I just have to get past not having enough confidence."

It seems to have been the right move for Stroman. She now has a few more children, and she told The Stand in 2019 that she's quite happy to work at a pizza place she loves. "Being a mom is the most joy I find in life," she added, not at all resentful about having given up her "Idol" dream for her kids. She clarified, "I don't spend time thinking about shoulda-coulda-woulda."