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Hutchinson didn't mind losing to Maddie and revealed they've been a couple since January.

\"I was not looking for a relationship,\" Poppe said. \"I've just been burned a lot. But he captured my heart pretty quickly. I mean, his personality just shines, and he makes me laugh more than anybody else in the whole world, so it didn't take long!\"

So how did Poppe, who described herself as an \"underdog,\" end up winning? She stayed true to herself. In fact, she was surprised that the show's producers \"truly let me be exactly who I wanted to be.\"

Caption this.. #americanidol

A post shared by Maddie Poppe (@maddiepoppe) on May 2, 2018 at 8:25am PDT

She believes having judge Katy Perry on her side didn't hurt either.

\"Early on she was saying, 'Oh, this girl reminds me of myself,' and was tweeting super nice things,\" Poppe recalled. \"To have her support ... to have her say that to the world ... was pretty awesome.\"

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