It was a night of many firsts for American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest!
The longtime Idol host not only shocked viewers by delaying the announcement of season 24’s top 12 contestants on Monday, March 30, but he also flashed his bare feet on national television.
Seacrest, 51, appeared barefoot onstage while he was talking to contestant Kyndal Inskeep, who performed shoeless. He hopped around with his feet fully on display while the cameras zoomed in on his toes.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight after Monday’s episode, the host quipped, “Well, I just saw Kyndyl and I thought, ‘I wonder what that [feels like].’ I’ve never hosted a show in my bare feet.”
“I want to feel grounded. I want to feel that,” he joked. “I spent 42 bucks [on them]. I want to show them off. I just had them done.”
Monday’s Idol was historic in more ways than one as Seacrest announced that voting results would not be revealed for the first time in the show’s 24-season history, citing an “unprecedented” 10 million votes being cast and more time being needed to count the votes.
Seacrest had been expected to announce which of the 14 contestants remaining in the competition would perform again next week. However, the result will now be revealed at the top of the next episode on Monday, April 6.
Earlier during Monday’s episode, the top 20 was whittled down to just 14 remaining hopefuls as Abayomi, Genevieve Heyward, Kutter Bradley, Madison Moon, Makiyah and Ruby Rae were all cut.
Last year, Seacrest weighed in on his Idol legacy as the show began filming its 24th season in Nashville. (Idol originally aired on Fox from 2002 to 2016 before moving to ABC in 2018.)
“I haven’t thought about legacy yet,” Seacrest told People.
He explained, “In terms of what I hope people expect from me, or get when I’m on any show, is that they feel comfortable watching it. They enjoy it. It doesn’t seem like it’s too difficult. They can have anybody of any age watch the show. People can get together as a family, watch the show. And for me to make them feel comfortable and as if we’ve known each other for a long time, even if we’ve never met. And if you were a host, that’s the idea.”
“You just listen to the room and go with the flow of what the show is — you can’t plan out too much of it,” he added of hosting the popular talent show. “And I think that’s the beauty of it. When we get into our live shows, we have an idea of how it’s going to go, but it never really goes that way. And you follow the ball and make people feel as comfortable as they can on the stage and have fun with the judges, and that’s the equation.”
