'American Idol' Exit Interview: Luke Menard

American Idol judge Simon Cowell told Luke Menard that he wasn't memorable and in last week's vote, the American people seem to have forgotten about him. At least one person disagrees, though.

That would be Menard's wife.

"Yes, he told me I was forgettable the first week," Menard tells reporters the day after his Idol elimination. "She was just very supportive and told me, she said, 'You know, you're not forgettable, Luke. I remember you.  Everyone's going to remember you,' and she said, 'Don't worry, you're going to make it past this first round,' and I did. She was right, so I'm going to start believing her a lot more now."

In general, as good as this experience has been for Menard, in may have been even better for his wife, who had a bit of luck on a different show that films on the CBS lot.

"I was at a taping of American Idol," he says. "It was when the girls were singing, so she wasn't able to come to the show, so she and my sister decided to go to Price is Right downstairs at CBS, and she got on. They called her up. She was the last contestant to come up, and she won the bid to come up on the show. She played a game and she won three big prizes."

So congratulations to Luke Menard for reaching the Idol 16 and to his wife for making the most of her time in Los Angeles. And don't expect Menard to feel bad about how his Idol run ended.

"It's a tough career," he says of his previous efforts to make it in the music industry. "I've made big sacrifices also. I toured in the a capella group for the last six years, and I made a big decision to leave that  group to pursue American Idol. It's a huge risk, but the way I've always looked at it is you can’t further your career unless you're willing to take those risks. So, it's a risk I've taken and it brought me to the Top 16, so I'm hoping that this will spur a big career for myself."

Menard isn't sure, though, that that career will be in music.

"I'm planning on, hopefully, maybe getting into some television with some acting," he says. "Yes, or maybe pursuing some kind of Broadway career. I would just to really see all the stuff that I potentially might be able to do after this."

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

On the thought process behind covering a Wham song: I wanted to pick a song that I knew was going to be a classic '80s song that people would really remember from the '80s, and I wanted also a song to up tempo and fun with a lot of energy on stage and something that I could show off my high tenor range. That's how I came up with 'Wake Me Up.' 

On the Four Horsemen: [Michael Johns] and I are the two oldest in the competition. We're both 29. Then Dave Cook, and then Jason Yeager, who actually was eliminated last week. The four of us, ever since day one in Hollywood, we really clicked and we hung out just about every day. We called ourselves the Four Horsemen, just a fun little club name that we came up with. We were super-excited when all four of us made it to the top 24, because out of 103,000, and then you narrow it down to 164 the first weekend in Hollywood, and the four of us clicked since day one in Hollywood. For the four of us to make it to the top 24, we were just super stoked about that.

On tuning out rumors of Idol scandals: I don't think it does as much as people may think on the outside. It's something that the news makes a big deal out of, and we're so busy and concentrated and focused on the inside of American Idol that personally, I wasn't even thinking about it. I was thinking about my performance and what I can do to keep myself on the show.  So personally, it really didn’t have an impact on myself.