“American Idol” Fans Furious With New Format

American Idol / YouTube

American Idol has made some changes to their format this season, and fans have taken notice. For starters, they changed their Top 24 to 26 because they had so much talent this year and couldn’t narrow it down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjFHH5e36Fo

After they performed – and were mentored – at Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii, the 26 contestants skipped any type of elimination until Sunday, April 23. The top of the show began with narrowing down the Top 26 to the Top 20, sending Elise Kristine, Emma Busse, PJAE, Dawson Wayne, Elijah McCormick, and Malik Heard home.

The show was revealed to be a three-hour special, which is out of character seeing as the show is normally two hours. Fans assumed they’d be able to vote for their favorite contestants the entire episode, but they were wrong. But, in a tweet before the show aired live revealed that voting would take place after the show.

Voting took place from 11pm EST Sunday night until 9am EST Monday morning and the Top 12 will be revealed during Monday night’s (April 24) episode. 

Still, fans were furious when they realized they had to sit through a three-hour episode before they could even vote!

“Cut out all the bulls**t & this could have been done in an hour. 3 hours is 100% unnecessary,” one Twitter user wrote.

Another simply asked, “Why does it need to be 3 hours?!”

Here are more reactions (and confusion) about the show’s format.

See the remaining contestants below, and tune in tonight to see who makes the Top 12.