Just in case you are interested, here is a transcript of a conference with Season 11’s first eliminated contestant – Jeremy Rosado.

The call was held on March 9, 2012:

Q: My question is last night Jimmy had some harsh words for you and then also Steven. He said that he would have chosen you to go home, as well. With your emotions and nerves going crazy already, what was it like hearing them say that last night?

J. Rosado: It definitely didn’t help. It definitely made you think that you were definitely the one going home, but at the same time you just stood there hoping and praying that the outcome would be in my favor. I’m grateful for the four of them – Jennifer, Jimmy, Steven, and Randy – and especially to the judges and the producers for bringing me this far. They obviously saw something. Last night Jennifer came up to me and told me she wanted to keep me and it definitely made me feel pretty good. We just lost the battle last night, I guess.

Q: Well, you just talked about Jennifer wanting to save you and it seemed like kind of throughout the competition she was very much in your corner. Tell me a little bit about how that felt to have Jennifer Lopez, multi-platinum artist, standing up for you almost at every turn.

J. Rosado: Yes. It was crazy. It was amazing. I will forever be grateful to her for being on my side and fighting for me down to the last minute. At the same time I’m grateful to the three of them and to the producers like I said before. Getting to the Top 13 of 100,000 people is not something that happens every day and I really am just so blessed.

Q: Yes, for sure. During your elimination last night Colton especially had some nice things to say about you and he said that you guys were roommates. What kind of friendship did you strike up with him?

J. Rosado: He became my big brother completely. I’m going to miss him so much and all my other brothers and sisters from the show. I love them so much and that’s probably going to be the biggest thing I’ll miss the most is not being with my family and not my contestants.

Q: You are a very emotional person and I know that you said afterwards that you said you were going to have a good cry after you went backstage. Did that happen and how did it feel?

J. Rosado: Oh, yes. It definitely happened, definitely cried a lot. Cried and prayed and called my mom, saw my dad. Cried a lot. I’m still devastated, but I’m recovering and I know only the best things are going to come from this. American Idol is a humungous platform and I’ve been so tremendously blessed to be on the show.

Q: What are some of the things you expect to happen? I know that you mentioned that in addition to singing that you’re interested in acting, as well.

J. Rosado: Yes. I love acting and singing, hopefully maybe some TV movies or something, a record deal, the big dreams. Just hoping that maybe someone will reach out to me and we’ll see what happens. I know that God has got everything under control, so I’m excited.

Q: My question is now that you have the time do you think that you would try out for other singing competition shows in the future like the X Factor or The Voice?

J. Rosado: American Idol is a show that I’ve wanted to audition for. As the show has done so much for me, two reasons that I wouldn’t audition I think for another show like that, the first one I think is because they won’t take me because I’ve made it this far onto this show. Second, I think American Idol has done a lot for me and has given me a huge head start in my career. I’m hoping for doors to just open just from having this in my life.

Q: My follow up is do you have any immediate plans now that the Idol journey has come to an end?

J. Rosado: Just got some more press to do over the next week. That’s pretty much it for now and then I get to go home to be with my family and my church for a bit and just hope and pray and see what happens.

Q: You were clearly Jennifer Lopez’s wildcard pick during last week’s results show, so did you think you were kind of on borrowed time going into the rest of the performance shows considering at least five of the six other guys had already received more votes than you last week? How confident were you that you would or wouldn’t be part of the bottom vote getters this week?

J. Rosado: That’s kind of a rough question, by the way, but I definitely felt like I had something to prove because I didn’t get voted into the Top 13. I was just hoping that what I had done the night before, which it wasn’t my best, but I don’t believe that I was out.

Q: Jennifer Lopez was obviously a huge fan of you and seemed to be pulling for you. Have you gotten any details on how close the vote amongst the judges actually was? I know you made a comment earlier in the call that made it sound like you talked to Jennifer after the show and she kind of told you it was a split vote and she was outvoted. Did I understand that correctly and if so, did you get any explanation why Steven and Randy voted against you?

J. Rosado: …

Q: Jeremy, I’m sorry. I think things are breaking up a little bit.

J. Rosado: Can you hear me now?

Q: Yes. I can hear you now.

J. Rosado: All I can say is that I know she was trying to save me. I’m not sure what happened with the other two, but I’m forever grateful, not only to her for fighting for me to the end but to Randy and Steven and to the producers because if it weren’t for all their votes that got me to this point, I wouldn’t be here. I’m grateful. I believe Randy didn’t think that my performance was very strong the other night and that’s why he didn’t want to put me through. I’m blessed to have had his and their support this whole way.

Q: When you were standing up, the final two with you and Elise, I was just wondering what you were thinking and did you feel like compared to Elise’s performance that you should have stayed?

J. Rosado: I wouldn’t compare mine to anyone because I know that everybody who’s there is amazing and they’re all my brothers and sisters. I think that my performance was strong enough to still be in the competition. I thought I would still be there today, but in that moment when we were standing their together, I had a gut feeling that it was going to be me. Elise is amazing and she so deserves it. I’m sad that it had to be me but at the same time I’m happy for her, I truly am.

Q: This is just sort of a random question, but we noticed in some of your Hollywood week auditions that your tongue was kind of yellow. We’re wondering if that was like candy or something.

J. Rosado: Yes.

Q: Candy or something.

J. Rosado: The yellow tongue, it was cough drops, yellow cough drops. I needed one to make sure that my voice was okay right before I went out and I had some yellow cough drops that day and the second day that it aired. That’s what it is. Please, it was cough drops.

Q: I just want to say we’re sorry to see you go, but I was wondering what you thought about the twist of the judges’ decision and how you think that may have affected what happened with you going home if you thought it had stayed with America’s votes that you might have stayed.

J. Rosado: No. I will never know if I could have won with the lowest number or if I would have been the one staying. I kind of wish it was down the regular way so I could have seen how it played out by America. At the same time, she’s amazing, so it might have just been her anyway. This might have been the way it was by America’s vote. I just will never know.

Q: My follow up is are you headed back to the Infectious Disease Clinic or are you done there now?

J. Rosado: I love my co-workers. They’re like my family, but I don’t want to go back right now. I’m going to keep doing everything with the press this week and I’ll actually be on Live with Kelly on Monday morning and performing there and then the Today Show on Tuesday. I’m just excited about the future and we’ll see what happens.

Q: My question to you is we all know that Jennifer was in your corner. I was wondering how much Jennifer is going to figure into your post-Idol career, either as a mentor or maybe a cameo on Q’Viva! perhaps.

J. Rosado: That would be awesome. I haven’t heard anything at all, but I love her, first of all, I will forever be grateful to her for the way she fought for me. That would be awesome for in the future maybe her helping me out in some type of way, mentoring me or whatever it may be, but as of now I haven’t heard of anything.

Q: Now what was it do you think was your connection with her? She really took such an interest in you. It was actually quite wonderful to watch.

J. Rosado: Yes. That was a huge blessing and it will forever be a huge blessing just to think that she saw something in me that was special to her. I honestly believe that it was just my heart and I laid my heart out on my sleeve every time I performed. I know she felt it and praise God that I’ve made it this far. Yes.

Q: I was curious since you’re not the only one that we have from the Tampa Bay area, Shannon Magrane is also a local girl here, Blake High School, I was just wondering what is your experience or relationship been with her out there through this process and what do you think her prospects are in the future weeks?

J. Rosado: Oh, I love Shannon. She’s one of my best friends on the show in life, one of my sisters. I’m very close with her. We’ve been on this ride together. The funny thing is that when we auditioned we auditioned right after each other and I didn’t even know she was from Tampa. We both made it and every time we flew to Hollywood we would be on the same plane together, her and me, her and her mom. We’ve just become really best friends and it’s been awesome. She’s amazing and she’s going to do amazing. I hope she goes very far.

Q: Just a quick follow up, when do you actually see yourself being back here in Valrico and Tampa?

J. Rosado: I will be back home sometime the middle of next week.

Q: My question for you though is that first week you all were expected to perform Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder songs. I feel like that’s a really tall order for your first performance. How did you feel when you realized you would have to be singing a classic Stevie Wonder song?

J. Rosado: I was scared. It’s not easy singing Stevie Wonder. Nobody will ever be Stevie Wonder. He is one of the greatest of all time. I was just hoping that I could do my own thing with the song. It definitely worked. Jennifer, she loved it and Steven liked it too …, Randy not so much. I thought it was pretty good for what it was.

Q: Well, I guess my follow up question would be what advice do you have for other Hispanic students, children, anyone that wants to audition for American Idol, has big dreams like that? Any advice you’ve got for them?

J. Rosado: Love your dream and chase after it and don’t let any person on this earth tell you that you can’t. The impossible can be possible. I’m here and I know I’ve just been eliminated, but I’ve always dreamed about being in the top finalists of American Idol. Number 13, number 1, number 7, whatever it is and whatever it may be, I’m here and praise God for that. Just a word of encouragement is just never give up on your dreams because one day they will come true. Your time to shine will come.

Q: What we want to know is why do you think they saved Elise last night?

J. Rosado: Elise is amazing. She truly is fantastic. I guess compared to my performance that night I guess Randy thought it was a little rough and Jimmy, as well. I thought it was pretty good. I didn’t think it was that bad, but she deserves it. I hate that it had to me that got eliminated, but at the same time from the bottom of my heart I am so happy for her. She really does deserve it.

Q: Is there anything you would have done differently?

J. Rosado: I don’t know maybe sang better I guess. I don’t know what I could have done to make it better. I thought that my journey was pretty good all the way. Can’t change what’s already done but just praise God for how far I’ve gotten. I’m just so grateful.

Q: Oh, my gosh, we were really excited to see a Latino on American Idol and devastated that you were the first one to leave. Tell me what was your relationship with another Latina, Jessica Sanchez, on the show?

J. Rosado: I love Jessica Sanchez. She’s awesome. We were definitely really close friends. She was definitely one of my closest friends. I’m going to miss her just like I’ll miss everybody else. Like you said, we both are Latino and it was awesome to have two of us in it. I’m blessed to have met her and blessed to have been able to sing with her. I know she’s going to go far and she’ll do great.

Q: My follow up question would be, do you see yourself maybe doing more on an American-based show or Tela Nueva or to open up yourself to that market?

J. Rosado: You know, I’m open to the idea of opening up to the Latino community like the market of Spanish music, making an album, and doing the Spanish version of the album or some of the songs. It would be awesome and I think that’s a whole new area to open up.

Q: My question is the judges commented that Ribbon in the Sky was a difficult song and if you could go back, would you have picked another song?

J. Rosado: Probably would have picked a different song. It wasn’t a bad performance. I think I did pretty well. Things I could have changed, I’m not too sure what I could have done differently. I think I sang my heart out and I put my heart out on my sleeve and got eliminated, which stinks, but what can you do?

Q: My follow up question to that is who do you want to win the show now if you had to pick? I know that’s-

J. Rosado: I honestly can’t even pick anybody. I honestly love each and every one of them as my brothers and my sisters, and they’re all in their own right absolutely amazing. Every one of them deserves to still be there. I’m just excited to see how it all plays out and see who ends up being the winner.

Q: Randy Jackson said a lot about America needs to get to know Jeremy Rosado. How much do you think it hurt you that you actually weren’t featured in a lot of the early episodes as much as some of the other contestants? It was almost like when you made it far in Hollywood Week that was almost like the first time we saw you. Do you feel like maybe that’s why you didn’t initially make the top ten because the audience just wasn’t as familiar with you?

J. Rosado: I think that could have played a part definitely. At the same time, I can’t be upset at the producers for the way it was edited. I may not have been featured in the beginning, but I was featured on the show and they brought me this far. I’m just grateful that I got to this point and it’s just what was meant to be.

Q: My follow up question is you said you had always dreamed of being a finalist on American Idol. Watching the show over the years was there a particular contestant who really inspired you or like really convinced you that you too could be part of this? I’m sorry.

J. Rosado: I saw the last episode of the very first season on the one Ryan Seacrest said, “The winner of American Idol …,” and from that moment on she completely inspired me to be like, “Whoa, this is my dream. This is what I want to do one day.”

Q: Who was the person? I’m sorry. That part broke up again. Who was the person that you that inspired you?

J. Rosado: Kelly Clarkson.

Q: Oh, Kelly Clarkson. I’ve got you.

J. Rosado: When Ryan Seacrest announced that she was the winner that was the first time I’d ever seen the show and I was like, “Wow. This is what I want to do.”

Q: When American Idol decided to add Jermaine Jones to the Top 12 making it a Top 13, there was obviously one more guy than there were girls. Do you think the fact that there was an extra guy played any role in your elimination and that maybe you weren’t necessarily sent home because of your singing potential in the competition but rather because the judges thought it would kind of even out the playing field?

J. Rosado: That’s a great question. It could have played a part but like I said before, I will never know. All I know is that they gave me an incredible opportunity to be standing on that stage for the past few weeks and I will be forever grateful.

Q: Earlier in the call you mentioned that you’d always wanted to be on American Idol, so was this time around your first time you had ever tried out for the show or applied rather?

J. Rosado: I actually auditioned five times for the show and this is the first time I’d ever made it to Hollywood. From Hollywood on you tell I made it all the way to the Top 13, which is crazy, of 100,000 people, crazy, blessed. I never dreamt I would actually make it this far and I did, so praise God for that.

Q: Did you actually try out consecutively or were there seasons you skipped in between? What was that kind of like?

J. Rosado: Oh, no, I tried out consecutively for the past four years, three years.

Moderator: We have no further questions. Jeremy, do you have any closing remarks?

J. Rosado: Thank you guys for everything. God bless you all and just keep watching on. If you want to tell everybody to follow me on Twitter, jrosadoai11 and on Facebook, as well, thank you guys and God bless.