Esquire show chronicles Clay Aiken’s run for Congress

TV PREVIEW

“The Runner-Up,” 10 p.m. Tuesdays (debuts April 7), Esquire Network

Clay Aiken has a mellifluous singing voice that melted millions of viewers’ hearts in 2003 as runner-up during what is now considered an epic season two of “American Idol.”

That fame carried him to Broadway, concerts at Chastain Park Amphitheatre and a 2012 stint on “Celebrity Apprentice.”

So skeptics had a laugh when they heard last year he was pursuing a U.S. House seat in a heavily Republican district as a gay Democrat. Esquire Network decided to follow him around, turning his quixotic campaign into a four-hour docuseries called “The Runner-Up,” debuting at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

It’s no spoiler to say he lost by a wide margin. That was practically a given from day one. But the journey is fascinating nonetheless.

In the first episode, Aiken comes across as a sincere political neophyte but also a bit of a control freak, wrangling with his staff over the placement of a single campaign sign. He gets angry when a Democratic primary opponent smears him in a TV ad. (Aiken did go on to win the Democratic primary.)

And he has a surprising potty mouth. In the first episode alone, he utters various curse words at least a half-dozen times.

“You get pigeonholed when you’re in the public eye,” he said on “The Runner-Up.” “You get put in the box and people think you can only do one thing.”

Why is he doing this? “I am running because there are people in my district and my home who are being ignored. I want to try to give a voice to them.”

Jonathan Chinn, an executive producer with credits such as Morgan Spurlock’s FX series “30 Days” and the Emmy-winning 2001 docuseries “American High,” said he thought at first that Aiken’s campaign was a joke. But when he met with the North Carolina native, he realized Aiken was a viable candidate.

“He was well versed on the politics of his district and state,” Chinn said. “It wasn’t a stunt at all.”

This is a documentary, not a reality show. The cameras followed him around to most events and meetings, but the producers didn’t “stage” anything. Esquire, Chinn said, let them do their thing while Aiken “had zero editorial input.”

“We rolled with the punches,” he said, “and they gave us good access.”

Aiken purposely refused to sing in public while running for Congress. He didn’t want to use his celebrity in that way to draw votes. The novelty of his campaign did garner him plenty of press. But he actually struggled to raise funds.

“You see his idealism get a little bit crushed by the reality of politics,” Chinn said.

Ultimately, Chinn felt Aiken was never quite able to shake the fact he was an entertainer. Renee Ellmers, the Republican incumbent, saw his past as “his Achilles’ heel, a burden he carried until the end.”