‘American Idol’ Live Social Voting Delays Eliminations

It’s been a strange couple of weeks for ABC in terms of unscripted television and things got a little weirder last night.

American Idol postponed the results of last night’s live vote as the last twelve singers waited patiently to see if they would make it through the Songs of Faith episode.

Deadline revealed earlier this year that the ABC show was introducing live social voting and it seems to have disrupted the process.

Host Ryan Seacrest revealed in the closing moments on Monday’s show that no one would leave in episode 10 because the new voting system saw “tens of millions of votes coming in at a rate we’ve never seen before”.

Seacrest called it “truly unprecedented”. It was a move that clearly surprised judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood.

“This is the first time it’s ever happened. Believe me, I’ve been here every night. We want to make sure we get every vote counted, and every vote right. We’ll carry forward those votes, get everything verified,” he added. “At the top of next week’s show, your results will be revealed live on this stage. There you have it, America, tens of millions of votes, your top 12 will sing for your votes live all over again.”

The series, which is produced by Fremantle in association with Sony Pictures Television’s 19 Entertainment, has five ways to vote: online and text, and now Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Deadline understands that the 12 contestants will now find out at the top of next week’s show who has been eliminated with the ten remaining going through to the 90s Judge’s Song contest.

Showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick told Deadline in January that she had wanted to do social media voting for the last five years, something that no other major entertainment show has done.

“We have to meet the audience where they are. Back in 2002 when the show began, texting was the new hot thing. We also have to meet the technology where it is, as well. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to vote for their favorites, weigh in from their couch with their second screen, in real time,” she said. “If we can get Gen Alpha and Gen Z to weigh in a little bit more in the easiest way possible, that’s very exciting. It could tip the scale. Trends are always different,” she added.