The reality competition’s March 30 episode left judges, contestants, and even host Ryan Seacrest in shock.

*American Idol *reveals who’s leaving after historic vote

The reality competition's March 30 episode left judges, contestants, and even host Ryan Seacrest in shock.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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April 6, 2026 8:40 p.m. ET

Lionel Richie, Ryan Seacrest, Carrie Underwood, and Luke Bryan on 'American Idol' March 30. Credit:

Disney/Eric McCandless

*American Idol*'s* *Monday episode had a dramatic start, as the contestants *finally* learned which 12 of the 14 remaining contestants were chosen to move forward.

The singers had expected to hear the results last week, but host Ryan Seacrest announced on the March 30 show that, for the first time in the long-running series' history, more time was needed to count the "truly unprecedented" number of votes, thanks to a new way to vote on social media.

"To ensure complete accuracy with the numbers," Seacrest said when it was time for the announcement. "I was literally just told we are not going to announce eliminations tonight."

'American Idol' contestants face the judges on the March 30 episode.

Disney/Eric McCandless

Ultimately, when he revealed which 12 of the top 14 remaining contestants would be moving forward, there was bad news for Julián Kalel and Jake Thistle.

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That meant that Brooks Rosser, Braden Rumfelt, Chris Tungseth, Daniel Stallworth, Hannah Harper, Jordan McCullough, Keyla Richardson, Kyndal Inskeep, Lucas Leon, Philmon Lee, Rae, and Jesse Findling went on to sing for another round.

It had been a long wait for fans and contestants, yes, but also for judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Carrie Underwood.

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Even Seacrest himself, who's been part of the show since it premiered in 2002, had been astonished at what happened.

After the conclusion of the March 30 show — where the theme was "Songs of Faith" — Seacrest explained to ABC's *On The Red Carpet* how he learned what happened during the first live episode of the season: "They handed me the card, and they said, 'There's no results on that card for you to reveal, because there's so many coming in for social vote. To get it right, we've got to push it to next week. Go!"

Ryan Seacrest photographed for the 'American Idol' March 30 episode.

Disney/Eric McCandless

This season, *American Idol* fans, for the first time, have been allowed to cast their votes via social media. The show obviously underestimated the number of ballots that would be coming in.

"We broke the machine that we created to get all the votes," Richie said.

But the machine was working just fine during Monday's show, and another elimination was revealed, just as planned: Findling. He and Rae were in the bottom two, but Richie stepped in to save her.

*American Idol* airs Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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Source: “EW Reality”