Simon Cowell thinks Kelly Clarkson was the "perfect winner" of American Idol

During an appearance on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Simon shared: "Oh, it was like a dream.

"I do remember actually saying to someone, hypothetically, 'I'm certain there's someone out there and he or she's probably working in a bar, has tried to get a deal, can't get into the right people or the label, but is brilliant.'"

Simon was always convinced that he could find the perfect pop star on the show. However, he admits that the search was more difficult than he imagined.

He said: "Some of the early people we saw in the first couple of cities - everyone was terrible. So I thought this show could be a disaster.

"You couldn't have asked for a more perfect winner. And we're still friends today. She's a amazing person, incredible personality. And just this killer voice."

Meanwhile, Kelly previously claimed that she didn't know American Idol would be broadcast on national TV.

The chart-topping singer said on the Not Gonna Lie podcast: "For all of us in that first season, we literally didn't ... I didn't even know it was a TV show until my third audition.

"Like, we were literally trying to pay our bills. We're like, 'Oh, this might work. I might meet someone or whatever.' Nobody knew it was gonna amount to anything.

"We were literally, like, kids - you know, 19 years old just trying to pay my electric bill y'all. You know, and afford the deductible on my car that was bashed in that I couldn't afford. So it was a different thing."

Kelly's American Idol experience propelled her towards stardom - but the pop singer can still remember feeling isolated at the time.

The award-winning star - who now has her own TV chat show - said: "I had no one. I was the first winner. It was hard. Not to sound like, whatever, it was really hard."