‘American Idol’ Contestant Goes Missing, Comes Back With Gas Station Chicken Wings

https://youtu.be/abcqoxBoOEE

American Idol producers threw current contestants a curveball this season, having them compete in pairs during Hollywood Week, rather than in groups like previous seasons.

Contestants Peyton Aldridge and Madison Paige were among those who took the stage to perform together, but it seems as if they weren’t a match made in musical heaven as Aldridge had no respect for Paige’s time.

Aldridge disappeared on Paige when they were supposed to be preparing for their duet. Nowhere to be found, it turns out, Aldridge left the hotel to go get food. He later returned with gas station chicken wings and went back to his hotel room to eat them.

Paige enlisted the help of American Idol’s in-house mentor Bobby Bones to help locate her duet partner.

“What happened here?” Bones asked Paige.

“I can’t find my partner” she confessed.

“What do you mean, you can’t find your partner?” Bones questioned.

“Like he has not been up here.” Paige replied, very concerned.

She went on to explain that she selected a song for them to sing together but that they haven’t been able to rehearse yet.

“Who is he?” Bones asked.

“Peyton Aldridge, I cannot find him.” Paige shared.

After searching for Aldridge throughout the practice rooms, they finally found him near the elevators where he explained that he had been in his hotel room eating chicken wings. Bones informed Aldridge that Paige had chosen Kelly Clarkson and Jason Aldean’s duet “Don’t You Want to Stay” for their performance.

Unfortunately, Aldridge wasn’t happy with her selection.

The two practiced the song a bit on the piano, but then Aldridge made a last minute decision and asked to play guitar for their performance instead. Later, it proved that he should have went with the piano as he was not great at playing guitar. He also forgot the lyrics to the song but kept singing which ultimately threw Paige off.

“Ain’t no thang like a chicken wing, ok, I want to know what you were thinking. What’s going on?” Lionel Richie said upon the pair entering the stage for their duet.

“So I was in the lobby and didn’t see my partner here, maybe cause I wasn’t looking real hard enough, I went right beside the hotel because look I ain’t used to this cauliflower and zucchini stuff and they had chicken wings and I just had to get chicken wings,” Aldridge explained to the judges.

“Ok, this is really what happened, I’m just going to cut to the chase. We discuss that ‘hey we’re gonna go upstairs, chose our song then we’re gonna go change and come back and practice.’ He’s like, ‘alright cool.’ Well, he didn’t listen, so he went missing for like 30 minutes…” Paige told the judges before their performance.

Following their “Don’t You Wanna Stay” duet, the judges were unsure what to do as their performance did not go as planned. After Aldridge apologized to Paige and the judges, it appeared that they are willing to give them another shot as they sent both contestants to the next round.

“Listen, Madison and Peyton, your performance was not up to par but we realize what you’ve done in the past, you’re very talented,” Richie explained. “Peyton, we are very touched by your humility, your honesty. So my fellow judges and I have decided to give you a second chance, you’re both going through.”

Watch it all go down in the clip above.

The next episode of American Idol airs Monday (March 23) at 8 p.m. ET/PT.