There’s only so long that a reality show like American Idol can remain relevant, especially with new competition cropping up almost every year. A Fox executive already admitted at the beginning of this year that the show was beginning to ‘wind down’, and now it looks like their biggest star, Ryan Seacrest, is cashing in his chips and trying to leave early.
There’s no denying that American Idol made Ryan Seacrest a household name. Sure, the guy has a bajillion jobs, but when he started out on Idol, the general public didn’t know who he was. But cue thirteen years and seasons later, and he’s the biggest brand name associated with the show.
Anyway, Radar Online is reporting that Ryan’s contract is about to expire, with sources adding, “Ryan is telling friends that this season of Idol is likely to be his last. He’s lost the passion for it, and desperately wants to do different things at this point in his career, like produce the Oscars and start developing more of his original ideas.”
Apparently, Ryan feels like Idol is ‘holding him back‘, but since he’s being paid so much money, he’s trying to be a ‘politician about it.’ Yes, I’m sure it’s SO difficult to accept down millions of dollars for working on something for only a few months in a year. Ugh, celebrities.
Anyway, in addition to leaving Idol, Ryan’s reportedly intent on going behind-the-scenes more, including red carpet interviews and coverage. If any of you have noticed recently, Ryan’s been absent quite often during major awards shows, and it seems like more and more, he’s starting to leave the actual interviewing up to other people. The sources add, “He wants to transition to behind the scenes more, and is getting fed up with the ‘interviewing people‘ part of his job, when his heart is really in the work he does as a producer.”
Well, interviewing celebrities can be a humiliating experience, and I can see how a pseudo celebrity like Ryan Seacrest would get burned out with it. Plus, it looks like he’s already doing plenty of producing and behind-the-scenes work, because he already has several shows he’s producing going on the air, and he’s also working on several other projects. Is Idol really that much of a constraint?
What do you guys think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
