Ashley Rodriguez: "I have no regrets"

When Ashley Rodriguez was eliminated Thursday night, she appeared to be shocked and a little angry. But during Friday’s media conference call, she had nothing but praise for the show she believes has launched her career…

Here’s a little of what she had to say…

On whether she would change anything: “I feel like I went into this competition giving 100% all the time, and I think it’s actually a really, really awesome thing for me that I can walk out of it saying that I have no regrets. I gave my all in every performance, in every situation, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that one opportunity that may not have been for me is just going to lead me and bring me to the next best thing for me.”

On the judges being harsh: “Yes, they were not taking any chances this week. I think a lot of people thought they would be a little lenient considering it was our first live show, but turns out that they were coming in throwing punches, and – I wouldn’t say that they were too hard, but – we definitely could have used a little bit of love from them, that’s for sure. I think that they were very quick to give a lot of criticism and not back it up by anything positive, which is unfortunate, because you can always find something good from a performance, even if it falls apart. There’s always something positive you can take from that, and they didn’t really highlight on that too much, which is unfortunate.”

On why she was eliminated: “It’s unfortunate that I’m leaving the competition so soon, but I have to believe that everything happens for a reason, the good and the bad, because that’s the glimpse of hope. That’s the light in a dark situation. And I’m taking Idol for what it is and for what it was for me, which was a great platform and an awesome opportunity and an incredible moment to sing in front of such a huge audience – 30 million people got to hear me sing and I got to share with them, so what a better way to jumpstart your career than such a huge audience on such a big platform.”

Photo Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX