Various news outlets later on said that he "had his career completely destroyed" for doing so, before it became enormously popular and made Seacrest very wealthy.

[2] During his 2008 appearance on the sixth season of the reality television weight loss show Celebrity Fit Club on which he lost 15 pounds, and won the grand prize with his team, he spoke about his reasons for leaving American Idol following its first season.

Dunkleman conceded that he experienced several months of depression, and also still harbored resentment against current show host Ryan Seacrest, but has come to terms with his situation.

[2] On April 7, 2016, Dunkleman appeared on the American Idol fifteenth season and (initial) series finale.

Dunkleman has also appeared in pilots for ABC and 20th Century Fox and guest-starred on the late-night talk show Talkshow with Spike Feresten, Ghost Whisperer and Las Vegas.

He had a recurring guest role on Two Guys and a Girl, played a stand-up comic suspected of murder in NYPD Blue, and appeared in an independent film called Comedy Hell.

In the episode, he was shown as an out of work and pretentious alcoholic and his inner dialogue expresses contempt of Seacrest's last name, success and charisma.

[5] In November 2019, Dunkleman was on the third episode of Season 1 of the CNBC series Back in the Game, hosted by Alex Rodriguez.