Reacher's Alan Ritchson Explains How American Idol Completely Misrepresented Him

Long before he became a screen idol on the Amazon Prime series "Reacher," Alan Ritchson was vying to win a recording contract on "American Idol" Season 3 in 2004. Unfortunately, the experience ended on a sour note.

In an interview with the eponymous host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Ritchson — whose career started in modeling — recalled that after arriving at his hotel to complete the series' Hollywood round, he was introduced to a female model who was also auditioning for the competition. Shortly after arriving, Ritchson said producers got shots of the two being interviewed in a hot tub, and eventually splashing around in a pool. He recalled being asked, "'Why don't you show everybody how much fun it is to be on "American Idol?" Why don't you, like, push her [the fellow model] in the pool?'"

What Ritchson didn't realize until the episode aired was that he was being set up for some manufactured hijinks. Worse yet, the show skipped over what he was really doing on the third night of taping. "On night three, the songwriting night, they have [host] Ryan Seacrest running around asking people, 'Where are Alan and Tina?' or whoever the model was."

After Seacrest got a couple of "No" answers from people, Ritchson realized what the pool footage he and the model shot was for. "They cut to us in the pool, splashing around, [partying it up, and I was like], 'What the hell?' I was helping people [with their songwriting that night]," Ritchson told Kimmel.

Season 3 wasn't Alan Ritchson's first try at "American Idol." After failing to make the cut for the semifinal round while auditioning for "American Idol" Season 2, judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson advanced Ritchson to the series Hollywood semifinals for Season 3. As it turns out, it was in the Hollywood round of Season 3 on "American Idol" where Ritchson inadvertently learned some tricks of the trade in showbiz the hard way.

Ritchson, who told Jimmy Kimmel that his first love was songwriting, said he encouraged other contestants daunted by the assignment. "I wrote my song in two seconds, and I see grown men crying in the hallway [saying], 'I can't. I can't write a song, man,'" Ritchson recalled for Kimmel. "I'm just like, 'What's your sound like? [Do] you want me to help you? So, I helped people write their songs." As such, Ritchson was upset by the footage of night three of "American Idol" Season 3, where the video made him look like he spent time frolicking in the pool instead of the kind gesture of helping out others.

Although Ritchson felt he was misrepresented in "American Idol," he said making the trip to Los Angeles for the semifinal round in Season 3 was ultimately a life-changing experience. "Even though I was cut, I was enamored of the passion people had there for their art," Ritchson told the Wall Street Journal. "I decided to stay and landed TV commercials and auditions."

"Reacher" Season 2 is airing on Amazon Prime.