Alan Ritchson discussed his time on the talent show only last year, but many fans are only just discovering the footage for themselves.

Composite of Alan Ritchson on American Idol and his Reacher character looking shocked

SUMMARY

 Alan Ritchson’s American Idol audition wowed fans, including Paula Abdul, long before his role in Prime Video’s Reacher.


 His singing career may not have taken off, but his success as an actor, especially in Reacher, is currently at its peak.
 Ritchson revealed details about his American Idol experience late last year.

Alan Ritchson has become the subject of a lot of housewives’ fantasies thanks to Prime Video’s Reacher, but many fans are just discovering the time the actor got Paula Abdul all hot and bothered when he auditioned for American Idol – even though he talked about his time on the show just last year.

Reacher season 2 poster

Reacher

TV-MA
Action
Crime
Drama

Release Date: February 4, 2022
Cast: Alan Ritchson , Maria Sten , Malcolm Goodwin , Willa Fitzgerald
Main Genre: Action
Seasons: 2
Creator: Nick Santora

Ritchson shared a video of himself singing on TikTok, which bowled over thousands of his fans who were shocked by his vocal range. However, as the video was shared on X/Twitter, someone questioned how people didn’t know the actor could sing – especially when he made it through to the Hollywood rounds of American Idol many years before he became Prime Video’s resident beefcake.

In the resurfaced video, Ritchson is seen auditioning in Season 3 of the show, long before he became the man-mountain that he is today. But the then-wannabe was still able to make judge Paula Abdul need a moment. In fact, she was given several, as fellow judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson stepped out to allow her to have Ritchson’s full attention. You can see the video below.

While Ritchson’s singing career didn’t take flight, that seems to be a pretty moot point now, as the actor is currently surfing the biggest wave of success in his career so far thanks to his take on Lee Child’s action hero, and the several other roles that have come on the back of his appearance in the series.

When Was Alan Ritchson on American Idol and What Happened?

Alan Ritchson on American Idol

Ritchson made his American Idol appearances 20 years ago in Season 3. In December 2023, the actor recalled his time on the series in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, noting how his failure on the series essentially led him to his career in acting. He said:

“I made it to the second round in Los Angeles. Even though I was cut, I was enamored of the passion people had there for their art. I decided to stay, and landed TV commercials and auditions.”

While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! around the same time, the actor elaborated on his American Idol past, revealing that during his time on the show the producers tried to get him to play out a fabricated storyline which involved him cavorting around in a pool with a female contestant. He told Kimmel:

“I walked in the door of this hotel and was greeted by 30 lawyers and a 150-page document saying, ‘You’re not gonna tell anyone what happens here.’ So I signed that. So within 10 minutes of being at the hotel in Los Angeles, I’m down at the pool in my board shorts and they’re like, ‘Why don’t you sit in the hot tub, we’ll ask you a couple questions.’”

He was then asked to push the female model in the pool and splash around to show “how much fun it was to be on American Idol.” But later, on an episode that involved the contestants writing their own love songs, what aired was host Ryan Seacrest pretending to look for Ritchson, at which point it cut to scenes of him splashing around in the pool. In actuality, during that task, he had been helping other contestants who were struggling with their own songs.

It seems that despite that not doing much for his chances of winning the show, it didn’t deter him from remaining in Hollywood, and a year later, he picked up his first movie role in The Butcher. The rest, as they say, is history.