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‘American Idol’ Reveals Twist and is Bringing Back 2020 Contestants: Here’s What Fans Are Saying

This season of American Idol has had plenty of twists and turns, but last night reached a whole new level. The show aired a “comeback” episode Monday night, and fans are not happy. In a very last-minute surprise, the show announced that they would allow ten 2020 contestants to come back and compete on the show for a spot in this year’s top ten.

It’s a massive shakeup to the season that many say is completely unfair to the existing contestants.

While bringing back contestants who couldn’t perform because of COVID-19 sounds like a great idea on paper, it feels like a slap in the face to many fans who’ve watched this season and grown attached to the current contestants. The addition of these singers will ultimately make it harder for current season contestants to get a spot in the final rounds of the show.

The move came after singers from Season 18 weren’t able to perform on stage due to the pandemic. Katy Perry said that what happened to the singers last year was “unfair.” But fans argue that eliminating am American Idol contestant from this year’s season just to make room for someone who already competed is also quite unfair.

And Ryan Seacrest agreed with Katy Perry. “Those finalists never got the true experience of the big stage, the lights, the cameras, the hair, the makeup, the wardrobe, that fun stuff.” But they still technically competed, and a winner was crowned.

‘American Idol’s’ Bad Timing

Many took to Twitter to say that last year’s ten contestants should have been brought on earlier in the season, making the competition fairer for everyone. Now, voters will determine which of the ten contestants will make it into this year’s top ten. Many have complained that that 10th spot in the top ten would have been contestant Ava August’s if it weren’t for the twist.

Others have suggested that the contestants from last year should have had their own American Idol spinoff season, separate from other contestants.

“Nobody likes this concept…” another Twitter user said, “terrible idea. Why in the world would we wanna watch the same ppl we watched last year? Totally unfair to this year’s group. If someone from LY [sp] wins, I won’t watch again. Save it for a runners-up season or something, don’t ruin this one.”

On top of this, the current American Idol audience will have little recollection of the former contestants or their backstories, as it’s been over a year. Contestants were dropped into the competition without much context. Others say that it’s fine for the contestants to come back and perform, but the fact that they get to compete is unfair, as they had their chance last year.

Love American Idol‘s risky decision or hate it, the show will be back Sunday, May 2nd where they’ll finalize the now-controversial top 10.