American Idol
Jason Castro
Age: 20
Hometown: Rockwall, TX
Audition City: Dallas
Eliminated: May 7

Simon thought you forgot the words on purpose and wanted to go home. Is there any truth to that?
Jason: I definitely did not do that on purpose. I couldn't believe I forgot such a popular line, but somehow it slipped my mind. As of yesterday I wanted to win, and the day before I wanted to win. I think it came down to inexperience and once we doubled up on songs, I wasn't able to focus and my mind was just split, and I couldn't deliver.

Was it hard to do your second song after Paula's flub a few weeks ago of judging in advance of your performance?
Jason: Well, that was kind of funny and I was confused. I thought, "The second song? Is that David?" But I don't think it affected my next performance.

Now that you are going home, what are you excited to be getting back to?
Jason: I am not sure when that is happening, as I am hearing I go to New York next week and then I am back for the finale. But I just miss home and love being there in the summer. I miss working with my dad in the summer. He has a company that designs and builds custom swimming pools and I have been working with him since I was 15, doing drafting and outside work, also cleaning pools and stuff like that.

What did you learn from your experience on Idol?
Jason: I've learned I can do a lot more than I thought. Before this, I wasn't really confident as a performer and hadn't been doing it a whole lot. Now I did it for a few months straight, and on TV! So I gained a lot of confidence and that is cool.

Did you get further than you thought you would?
Jason: Oh, I made it further than I could have imagined. I didn't consider it a real possibility that I could win until these last few weeks. I did kind of just wander in and see where it would go, and it just started going. I was like, "All right, I am here and I'm in it to win it." I was giving it my best. Still, I never had the mindset of winning, more the mindset of every week, giving it my best, and that leads to winning it.

Were you relieved to be going?
Jason: Well, yeah, I was as happy last night as I was to make the top 24. This whole time I have had a blast, but it has really been hard. I was really starting to fear the week ahead and remember thinking, "How am I going to do three songs — I can't even do two right." But with the hometown visit it was going to be a lot of work — even though it would have been so much fun — I was freaking out about it. That was all building up, so I was ready to go either way. My natural reaction was relieved that the pressure was off. I loved my time there, and would liked to have gone further, but I don't think I could have handled it.