Exit Interview: Colton Berry

Although American Idol is a showcase for finding a musical superstar, Colton Berry got some unlikely advice from judge Simon Cowell when he was eliminated from the show last Thursday (Feb. 21).

The acerbic Idol judge instructed the 17-year-old high school student to get a totally different job, outside of the music industry, and then sing for fun. Ouch. But Berry doesn't sound like he necessarily plans on taking that advice.

"You know what? Simon's job is to be Simon Cowell," Berry says. "There is no one else in the world like Simon Cowell and that's who he's supposed to be, so I expected him to say something like that.  But I also kept in mind and I think America kind of kept in mind, when he said that comment, he did pick the Top 24 and our of hundreds of thousands of people, he picked us to be the Top 24 singers in America, so obviously we're all going to continue on with music careers, I mean that's who we are, and obviously, he had a hand in putting us there. So I think he was being a little hypocritical in itself. But he's Simon and everyone loves him and I love him, for who he is."

Berry is a big fan of this Top 24 and he isn't about to pick a favorite from the remaining 20 contestants.

"You know what, this season has been amazing, and as everyone has seen, this top 24 is way better than anything that has ever come along and the talent is ridiculous," he says. "And I think everyone is kind of a level playing field, I seriously could not name one distinct winner."

Other highlights from Berry's exit interview with the press:

On his other big dream: I was born in 1990, so my dreams since I was young, number one was to be on American Idol, because I grew up with the show, and number two was to be on Broadway. So I can check off my first one, and hopefully that first check will lead into the second one, and yes, that's what I'm actually getting read to pursue. I'm going to set up as many auditions as I can and really go for that.

On his self-professed resemblance to Ellen DeGeneres: You know people have been saying it for years. You know I'm one of her biggest fans; I've always been her fan. And one day I kind of looked in the mirror and I was like, 'Maybe everyone is right, maybe I do really look like Ellen.' So I figured I might as well embrace it. I have not yet talked to her. I know that she called Ryan Seacrest and was laughing with Ryan about the comments that I said. Hopefully, if Ellen is reading this, Ellen, give me a call.

On whether or not his image suffered from being paired with aspiring politician Kyle, Simon's pick, for the last Top 24 slot: I really don't think -- that might have been a factor, maybe, but there are 30 million plus who watch that show and vote and Kyle is a great guy and we got to know each other on that day and that may have had something to play into that, but I think really, people saw my performance and the voting system with Idol is kind of a weird system, you vote for your favorite and I didn't get a lot of time, other than the show with Kyle, like Hollywood Week or anything and I didn't have a lot of exposure.  So I think people just voted for their favorites and they were really familiar with me and they hadn't seen much of me before.

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