WOW

(Image credit: ABC)

The early days of American Idol saw many young performers become stars, or, at least, stars for a time, during and after their appearances on the singing competition. The ever-popular series was, no doubt, a launching pad for many, but fans of Reacher star Alan Ritchson are just now realizing that he was a contestant years ago, and, I gotta admit, they’re just as shook at the news as I am.

When Was Alan Ritchson On American Idol And What Are Fans Saying About It?

For the past couple of years it’s been hard to deny that Reacher (both the character played by Alan Ritchson and the series that fans watch with an Amazon Prime subscription) is an unstoppable force.

Though the star has been kicking around Hollywood for some time now, the action-packed drama has made him a household name, so it makes sense that the idea of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare cast member (who we just think of as taking names and kicking ass on screen) having previously appeared on American Idol would be a pretty huge surprise.

One X (formerly Twitter) user recently posted some video of the massive Reacher actor on Idol, and, yeah, everyone was floored by his time on the show.

He clearly charmed Paula Abdul, and to the point where she admitted that the 20-year-old hopeful was “totally hot,” but that was after co-judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson saw how flustered she was during Ritchson’s audition and left her alone so that he could sing directly to her. Which he did…to great effect, obviously.

Considering how popular the show was way back in 2003/2004, around the time he debuted his singing voice for all of America to hear, fans are now incredibly shocked. As one comment noted:

Wait a damn minute! Where was I?! I’m old enough to have seen and remembered this! 🤔

Ah, yes! It’s always so weird when someone becomes a big star and we all suddenly realize that they were right in front of our eyes in a major way years or whole decades ago. While singing didn’t lead to his immediate stardom, it was only a couple of years later that he made his screen debut as Aquaman on Smallville in his “scary” and “orange head-to-toe Speedo,” so it’s possible that getting all up on an adoring Abdul did still help his career out.

As you can imagine, the comments from his fans kept coming, with pretty much everyone shook to the bones about Ritchson (who was brutally honest about being able fight all of his Fast X co-stars and win) not just being on American Idol, but also being able to sing:

Wait, he was on American Idol??? @blooboo22
Omgggg I never knew this was him! @lwrncjones
I DIDN’T KNOW REACHER CAN SING WELL @bobocacay
I had no idea. @mel_med_larson

My personal favorite is that last one, just because the cartoon lady in the gif looks so confused that it seems painful for her.

This recent fascination with his vocal talents hasn’t escaped the man who blew his audition to become the MCU’s Thor, mostly because a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live! first opened the door for him to revisit/talk about it. There, he told the host that it was his first time in Los Angeles, meaning he actually made it all the way to Hollywood Week, and noted that the judges were likely rolling their eyes at his very body-focused performance because they were “jealous.” He continued:

That was a really fun experience for me, coming out to L.A. for the first time. I walked in the door of this hotel and was greeted by 30 lawyers and a 150-page document that says, ‘You’re not going to tell anybody what happens here,’ so I signed that.

He then went on to explain that “within 10 minutes” of being there, he was convinced to film with another model who’d also made it onto the show, in the hotel’s hot tub near the pool, where a producer asked them both questions that he took pretty seriously as they played near and in the water. Then, on night three when each contestant had to write their own songs, he finished quickly enough to help others with their tunes. But, when that episode aired:

I go to watch the show — like everybody else — in my hometown, and [see] Ryan Seacrest running around asking people where Alan and [the model were], and then they cut to us splashing around in the pool [and I was] like what the hell! I was helping people!

I mean, yo, like c’mon American Idol! You wronged Alan Ritchson and the model whose name he can’t remember, OK? I demand justice for all Idol contestants who were tricked into making themselves look like shiftless partiers who couldn’t be bothered to take the show seriously! You can look at the full interview, below:

You know, once I think about it, he’s now probably just fine with how his time on American Idol turned out, so I guess we can chill on the whole “justice for Alan Ritchson” front.