Interview with American Idol's Haley Scarnato

Last week, American Idol fans said good-bye to 24-year-old Haley Scarnato. She recently sat down for an interview with AOL to dish on Simon, Sanjaya and Katharine McPhee's hair extensions.

Was that your strategy? Did people mistake your spirited performances for strutting around and playing up your overt sexuality?
I have no idea. You never can tell. I just tried to do the best that I could do, and that was that.

I know for the past couple of weeks, you were shrugging off Simon's comments about just that. But deep down, was it bothering you each week that you weren't getting much feedback on your voice, but just about what you had on?
A little bit ... they always say this is a singing competition, etc., but it is what it is. You just have to brush it off and do the best that you can do.

In retrospect, do you think that not responding to Simon's comments was the right decision?
That's who I am. I'm on national TV, and you've got to respect him. He's Simon Cowell, and you've got to set an example. It does hurt a little bit, but you just kind of brush it off and try to get through it.

What was it like to work with J.Lo as a mentor? What was she like in person?
It was amazing. She was great. She was very warm and comforting, and she had a lot to tell us. You could tell she really did want to help us. It was a very good experience on my part and I think everybody felt the same with it.

Did you get to spend a lot of time with her?
A little bit ... it was like 10 minutes, so it was good to hammer out the song and stuff.

Did you get to meet Marc Anthony at all?
Yes, we did. That was really cool, too.

What was he like?
He was great. He was really, really nice. He loves her and he adores her, so that's really cool to see. They just look really happy.

What challenge did you not expect in this competition?
That's hard, there's so much. You can't prepare yourself for something like this. You expect picking the right song is a huge deal, but just making sure it gets cleared. I didn't know it was going to be that tough to try and get the song cleared. That was pretty tough and it affected us a lot, because then if it didn't clear, we had to pick another song. It would just hold everything up. That was pretty much it.

Did any celebrity mentor give you good advice that we didn't see?
No, not really ... Lulu was amazing. That was all on TV. She and Jennifer Lopez were great. I loved them. What you see is what you get. They try to put everything in as much as they can.

Were you aware of all of the things people have been saying about Sanjaya?
Not really. Like I said, we're totally in that bubble, so we try to stay away from it, just for the sake of our own minds. Not too much, the Sanjaya thing, I hear that's an issue or something. It's kind of funny.

It's an issue all right. Considering what an issue it is, does it bother you that you got voted off before him?
No, oh my gosh! Sanjaya is a great personality; he has a great energy backstage and on stage. I think he did a great job last week. He's a great kid, and I wish the best for him and all of the other contestants.

At one point early on in the season, they said that you were wearing hair extensions that have previously been used by Katharine McPhee on the show the season before, the hair stylist reused them.
I think it's cool. It's fun. They can wash them. It was fun. It was kind of cool to wear Katharine McPhee hair extensions.

When is your wedding, and how stressful has it been being in this competition, knowing that you have that to deal with?
The wedding was Nov. 10, but we have to move it back because the tour is running into it, so we'll see how it goes.

Photo from AOL.