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Eliminated contestant's selfless act on ‘American Idol’ has a hidden reason we didn’t expect: 'I was...'

Josh King explains why he let Mattie Pruitt stay on ‘American Idol’—and it’s actually pretty relatable

'American Idol' Season 23 premiered on March 2, 2025. The annual reality show is finally about to come to an end with the season finale set to air on May 18, 2025, airing as a three-hour live event on ABC. As of writing, only the top 5 are left in the show, which will further be chipped down to the top 3. Needless to say, a huge number of participants were eliminated to make way for a handful of contestants in the finale. One such contestant who got eliminated was Josh King.

King auditioned for  'Idol' with a soulful rendition of 'Over The Rainbow' by Judy Garland and 'My Girl' by The Temptations. Despite Carrie Underwood giving King a no, the North Carolina native got a yes from Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan and progressed to the Hollywood Round. King made it all the way up to the Top 8. However, King and Mattie Pruitt didn't receive enough votes in this round, which put the two in danger of getting eliminated. When it came to the judges' turn to pick who to save, the judges chose Pruitt, sending King home.

However, as the moment came for the judges to choose between Pruitt and King, the latter selflessly pitched in to save Pruitt, winning everyone's heart. During the Top 8 round, Pruitt performed Jessie Murph's 'Always Been You,' while King sang 'Home' by Michael Bublé. When it came to the judges making the decision, King made a gesture, nodding in the direction of Pruitt, indicating that she should advance to the next round.

While this definitely won people's hearts, King later revealed in an interview with The Charlotte Observer that he was ready to part with the show the moment the judges chose. The judges had previously saved King to be in the Top 14, as revealed by Screen Rant, which made him think they wouldn't do it again. "There were, like, a couple of things running through my head. Like, 'OK, you know there’s a chance they could save me again, but you know I doubt they would.'"

King went on to state how he wanted the 15-year-old Pruitt to stay on the show, as she could learn a lot from it. "At that point, I was kind of a bit sick of Hollywood, and I’m like, 'You know what? I think Mattie could really benefit from being on the show longer than I could'. Because, up to that point, there was like a list of accomplishments I wanted to kind of get on the show—like experiences and things I wanted to do on the show, and I pretty much got all of that done pretty early on."