AMERICAN Idol fans have revealed their cringey reactions about how the show recovered from last week’s voting snafu.

At the start of Monday’s episode, host Ryan Seacrest announced they would be eliminating two contestants straight away.

An image collage containing 1 images, Image 1 shows Ryan Seacrest speaking on stage for American Idol Live
American Idol fans shared their cringey reactions to the show’s eliminations on Monday nightCredit: ABC
 

A host reads from a paper to a group of contestants on American Idol.
Two contestants were eliminated at the top of the episode to make up for last week’s voting snafuCredit: ABC
The move was to narrow the competitors down to 12 after technical difficulties, exclusively reported by The U.S. Sun, kept them from doing so the week before.

Ryan claimed the contestants raked in so many votes that production couldn’t keep up to deliver the results that night.

“Last week, your millions of votes came in fast and furious in a truly unprecedented way, and we held off on your results to make sure every vote was counted,” the longtime host said at the top of the episode.

“I can tell you that the vote was incredibly close,” he added.

Ryan then walked over to the remaining 14 contestants, who were huddled to the side of the stage, and revealed the two with the lowest votes from last week.

He first announced that Julian Kalel, who was standing in the back and barely visible to the cameras, was going home after not garnering enough votes.

Jake Thistle was then revealed as the second contestant eliminated from the competition.

After the pair smiled and waved at the cameras, seemingly uncomfortably, they were swiftly removed from the stage.

The episode continued with the Top 12 contestants performing 90s hits secretly chosen by judges Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, and Lionel Richie.

Reddit users reacted to the abrupt eliminations and slammed the show for making the moment “awkward” for all involved.

“Oh, this is an incredibly awkward way to do this,” one person wrote in the thread.

“This is so awkward. Feel bad for them,” said another.

“Oof. I tuned in four minutes late and find out Julian and Jake! Noooooo but it was kinda nice missing the awkwardness I’m guessing it was,” remarked a third.

“Well, that was f***ing awkward. Feel bad for Jake. He woulda killed it tonight. Sheesh,” commented a fourth.

“God that was awkward and painful and sad,” agreed a fifth.

Others complained that it didn’t seem fair to axe contestants so quickly into the episode after they spent the last week preparing their performances.

“I would feel horrible waiting a whole week to find out that well, guess I’m gone, bye,” a fan said.

“I would crash out if I practiced a song all week just to get eliminated and not perform,” a second echoed.

“I feel bad for Julian and Jake. Staying there all week, just be gone,” someone else added.

In keeping with the theme, the episode also featured performances of theme songs from classic TV shows from the decade and celebrity guests.

Among them were Danielle Fishel, Caroline Rhea, Andrea Barber, Mark Curry, Holly Robinson Peete, and Reginald VelJohnson.

Two men, one smiling and one smirking, stand in the foreground among other people in a crowd.
Julian Kalel and Jake Thistle were sent home after receiving the lowest number of votesCredit: ABC
 

Ryan Seacrest shaking hands with a contestant on American Idol.
Many fans said they thought the moment was ‘awkward’ and felt bad for the eliminated contestants who were quicky ushered off-stageCredit: ABC
 

Ryan Seacrest holding an American Idol card and pen on stage with a purple floral background.
The show suffered a major technical issue last week that affected the second wave of votingCredit: ABC