They're the two events everybody in the country is talking about: another "American Idol" will go home Wednesday night on FOX, even as rival network ABC airs explosive allegations about judge Paula Abdul.

Former "Idol" contestant Corey Clark speaks out to "Primetime Live's" John Quinones, charging that Paula coached him and even had an affair with him while he was a contestant on the show.

"We had a couple of drinks and she was talking to me and she was letting me know all of the ins and outs of the show," Clark reveals to Quinones.

Did she offer to help him on "American Idol?" "Oh, of course," Clark responds, adding that Paula even helped pick his songs, his clothes and got his hair cut for him.

Quinones talked with our Tanika Ray Wednesday morning, saying that Clark claims Paula helped him impress her fellow judges, including former Journey member Randy Jackson, by telling Clark to perform one of the group's hits, "Foolish Heart."

"In the end, he performs that song and Randy loves it, stands up and applauds and says, 'You know I performed that in Journey,'" Quinones told Tanika. "He says, 'I didn't know that.' He's lying. Paula, he says, had told him all about it."

Clark also claims that Abdul provided him with prescription cough medicine, originally prescribed to her, to soothe his throat, and he even says Paula warned him not to go public about their relationship.

"You'll see phone records, you'll even hear a voice that Corey says is Paula Abdul telling him not to talk to the press," Quinones revealed.

Paula says Corey is lying, but she won't talk about the exposÈ. FOX cautioned viewers in a statement to examine Clark's motives. Clark was kicked off "Idol" for not disclosing his criminal past.

Meanwhile, Simon Cowell is standing by Paula, saying the worst she can be accused of is caring too much. "That's Paula," he insisted to "Extra." "There's nothing wrong with it, and there's nothing underhanded going on behind the scenes."

In any case, for now, whatever's going on behind the scenes is every bit as riveting as the singing competition.