Chayce Beckham was crowned the winner of American Idol on May 23, beating out runner-up Willie Spence, and it wasn’t until Monday’s appearance on the Bobby Bones Show that the Apple Valley, California, native explained why he didn’t appear visibly emotional or surprised when Ryan Seacrest announced he had won during the live finale.
“Here’s something about the moment that they called my name because a lot of people asked about me, ‘Oh, you didn’t seem surprised,'” Beckham said. “I’ve never said this to anybody, but this is actually what happened. That card is huge, right? And Ryan was right next to me. I saw my name on the card.”
The former heavy machine operator continued: “If you watch the video, I go like this [tilts head upward] because I didn’t want to look at it. That’s when I accepted it, and then he said my name, and everybody’s like, ‘You didn’t seem surprised.’ And I was like, ‘Cause my name was massive across this giant gold card!’ I saw it maybe 10 seconds before he said my name.”
Beckham’s redemptive arc was a consistent storyline throughout Season 19, beginning with him vaguely hinting at his past alcohol-induced darkness in his audition package and then specifically revealing a DUI crash during Hollywood week:
The 24-year-old’s debut single “23” immediately soared to No. 1 on iTunes:
Watch Beckham’s full conversation with Bones below.
Megan Armstrong (@megankarmstrong) is a writer with previous work appearing in places such as Billboard, Bleacher Report, GQ and others. She’s most interested in writing about people and how they live their lives, through the framework of music, entertainment and sports.
