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, in an interview with the eponymous host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," Ritchson revealed that his experience ended on a sour note.

Ritchson 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 them splashing around in a pool. He was being asked, "'Why don't you, like, push her [the fellow model] in the pool?'"

Ritchson didn't realize until the episode aired that he was being set up for some manufactured hijinks. The show skipped over what he was really doing on the third night of taping.

"On night three," Ritchson said, "the songwriting night, they have [host] Ryan Seacrest running around asking people, 'Where are Alan and Tina?' or whoever the model was."

"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.

Although Ritchson felt he was misrepresented in "American Idol," he said making the trip to L.A. for the semifinal round in Season 3 was ultimately a life-changing experience.