Last week’s American Idol episode ended with the shocking reveal that no results would be announced due to issues in calculating the vote totals.

Now, Ryan Seacrest is sharing what happened in real-time during that moment.

American Idol does real-time voting during live episodes, with fans voting for their favorites all night long and contestants getting eliminated at the end of the episode. For the first live episode of 2026′s new season, the show introduced new ways to vote on social media. It doesn’t seem like they were fully prepared for the influx of votes though, as Ryan announced at the end of the night that they would reveal the results at the beginning of the next episode instead.

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“They handed me the [results] card, and they said, ‘There are no results on that card for you to reveal because there are so many coming in for the social vote. And to get it right, we have to push ‘em to next week. Go!’” Ryan told ABC News.

Luke Bryan added, “We as judges, we’re very much in the dark on what’s going on. I’m sure it was pretty shocking looks on our faces.”

Some of the contestants also reacted.

Brooks Rosser told TV Insider, “I would love to be here for another week, even if I’m going to be worried the whole week. If I’m going to go home and not make the Top 12, I get to spend [time] with all these contestants who are now my family and we just all vibe together day and night.”

Jesse Findling added, “I didn’t think any of us really expected that, again, especially after such a long day, you know, thinking that more people were going to go home at the end and then that not happening. It was just kind of insane, but that just means we get to spend more time with each other, which feels great. So I think it’s a good thing.”