Jermaine Jones didn’t see it coming.
The 6’8″ American Idol finalist was axed from the competition on Wednesday due to revelations about his criminal past, but said on HLN’s Showbiz Tonight last night that he didn’t foresee such a fate, not even when he stepped in to speak with producers earlier this week.
“I thought they were bringing it to my attention,” Jones said in reference to a pair of arrests. “Letting me know that now they are aware of, you know, this, that and the third… Until they said it, I had no clue what was going to happen… I was shocked, but I can’t really express what my emotions were at that time.”
Jones declined to really comment on whether he thinks the show is “exploiting” his situation, considering it actually aired that meeting with executives and Ryan Seacrest teased the development on Wednesday’s show, not actually revealing the truth until midway through the broadcast.
“I know that when I filled out my application, I circled ‘yes’ that I was previously arrested before,” he said, citing a couple of “small infractions” when he was younger. “And, you know, they did a background check on me and there were some information that I had to get a lawyer to take care of before I could even be on the show.”
Jones concluded that he doesn’t think there are any warrants out there for his arrest and that he’s “learned a lot’ from the “humbling” experience.
“I’m doing great and I’m ready to get back into my music full force, and I’m grateful for everybody who’s supporting me and loving me, it’s just amazing.”