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Ex ‘American Idol’ Co-Host Brian Dunkleman Returns For ‘Idol’ Finale, Admits He ‘Didn’t Get Along’ With Ryan Seacrest

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 06:06 PST, Apr 8, 2016

American Idol’s season finale saw many returns, including original judges Simon, Paula and Randy. Throughout the finale, viewers say hello to some old friends, like ex co-host Brian Dunkleman.

Brian Dunkleman and Ryan Seacrest were the hosts of American Idol for the first season. Then, in Season 2, Seacrest took over the role by himself and became a mega star with a very successful brand in addition to Idol. He launched himself in a mega million dollar industry, and went on to inherit Dick Clark’s throne, so to speak. As for Dunkleman, no one knew what he had been up to since leaving American Idol.

While Seacrest and Dunkleman shared a playful moment on the series finale of American Idol, Brian Dunkleman has opened up about how they didn’t exactly get along during the first season.

On getting the call that Idol wanted him back, the former host said to People magazine, “I definitely was hoping that they would ask and they contacted me about a month and a half ago.”

He continued, and explained that he was even involved in the writing process.

“I actually wrote pretty much all is said [on camera] tonight except for the opening line which was written by their brilliant writer and it just couldn’t have been better. I’m very glad that they asked. It’s been a very, very cathartic evening for me.”

After leaving American Idol, Brian said that he was “bitter” after he saw how much of a success Idol went on to be. “I left the show but from what I gather they weren’t going to have me back anyway. So it’s kind of a big load off my shoulders. I guess I didn’t make a mistake.”

Dunkleman had a few guesses as to why American Idol was looking forward to getting rid of him as a co-host. He said that he wasn’t professional and didn’t do a good enough job while he was on the show. While some may blame inexperience and being young and stupid, Dunkleman said that he was 30-years-old at the time and he didn’t consider himself young.

For Brian, before he came back to Idol one last time, he wanted to speak with Ryan Seacrest, his co-host, whom he had lost touch with for various reasons. Their paths went in two different directions, but also, at the time they really didn’t get along or see eye-to-eye. Dunkleman explained the touching moment between the two former co-hosts.

“I wanted to see him before rehearsal in his dressing room. I walked in and he said ‘hello’ and we shook hands. I said, ‘I have to get this out: I want to apologize to you for all the times we didn’t get along back then.’ I told him that I wished I could go back and change that but I can’t. I wished him only the best for him and his family. It was a really great moment and he was so gracious.”

In a piece for Variety, Brian wrote an essay on his time after Idol. He said he had originally left because he wanted to be an actor, an aspiration that he’s still working on 15 years later. Surprisingly, Brian came clean, and said that at the time he had lingering demons that he hadn’t dealt with fully on the heels of getting the job at American Idol.

He explained that when he got the job, his head was “completely swimming.”

“Maybe it was my recent entry into therapy, where I finally began to deal with the death of my father, almost twenty years after the fact…Or perhaps it was the year and a half of extremely heavy drug use, which had wreaked havoc on my brain and depleted my body, leaving my nerves frayed and my emotions completely raw — a year and a half stint that had ended just three months prior.”

He came to the conclusion that it was “all of the above.”

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

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