Reacher's Crew Pranked Alan Ritchson With An Embarrassing Part Of His Past
If you haven't noticed, Alan Ritchson is carving out a nice little niche for himself as a Hollywood toughman. Last year he made a big (literally) impression as the hulking protagonist of Prime Video's "Reacher," battling his way through eight episodes of high-octane action and establishing himself as the definitive on-screen version of Lee Child's ex-military policeman — sorry, Tom Cruise. Hell, the man fought off five guys single-handedly in a prison fight that took months of preparation. And now, he's one of the latest additions to the "Fast" franchise, bringing his Jack Reacher muscle to the role of Agency head Aimes in "Fast X."
With that in mind, it might come as a surprise that Ritchson spent his younger years trying to get a singing career off the ground — even entering "American Idol" to see what Simon Cowell and company thought of his vocal abilities. In the show's third season back in 2004, a 20-year-old Ritchson showed up at the Atlanta auditions and sung a melisma-laden rendition of Steve Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," impressing a smitten Paula Abdul and swiftly going through to the next round of the competition. Unfortunately, he was sent home from Hollywood after infusing his second-round performance with some sultry "Magic Mike"-esque energy that didn't go over too well with Simon Cowell or Randy Jackson.
But if Ritchson was under the impression his tough guy era would erase all memory of his short-lived time on "American Idol," he'd soon be reminded of the whole thing almost 20 years later, thanks to the cast and crew of "Reacher."
'What the hell is going on right now?'
With "Reacher" season 2 set to debut any time now, we'll be saying goodbye to Willa Fitzgerald's Roscoe and Malcolm Goodwin's Finlay, as the second season will take Jack Reacher on a whole new adventure and introduce a whole new cast. This is a shame not just because the first season's characters worked so well together, but because the cast just seemed to get along well. So well, in fact, the "Reacher" team arranged a little friendly prank on Alan Ritchson that recalled his brief "American Idol" odyssey.
In an IMDB interview, Fitzgerald, Goodwin, and Ritchson recalled the moment the entire cast and crew broke out into a rendition of "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" right before a scene, catching the show's leading man off-guard. Fitzgerald said: "We found out about ["American Idol"]. And we really wanted to pay homage to his illustrious past. And so we had an on-set choral interpretation of his big hit." To really give the whole thing some authenticity, the entire crew also wore Ritchson's number from his original audition, with the star adding:
"I'm thinking I'm about to do a scene and everybody's on their knees singing like I'm Paula Abdul, I was like, 'What the hell is going on right now?' I was so confused, and then I see the American Idol badges and I'm like, 'Oh. Oh.' You guys did some deep digging."
Ritchson, who seemed to be a good sport about the whole thing, can be seen indulging his vocal talents as recently as 2022, when he covered The Beatles' "Blackbird," this time sans any striptease-style gyrating. Don't expect the always taciturn Reacher to be breaking out into song in season 2, though.