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Luke Bryan pulled off a memorable prank on fellow American Idol judge Carrie Underwood during the season 24 premiere, enlisting help from country star Brad Paisley for a bit of well-orchestrated chaos.
The premiere kicked off with American Idol University at Belmont University in Nashville, where Paisley appeared as a surprise guest. Midway through the episode, Bryan stepped away from the judges’ desk for a bathroom break and instead met up with producers and Paisley to hatch a plan to stir things up. The idea: a fake audition and an earpiece that would allow Paisley to secretly feed Bryan increasingly ridiculous lines.
Enter the fake contestant, Dylan Holmes. As Bryan returned to the desk, things went off the rails almost immediately. He began pestering Underwood with awkward questions, including how much she could bench press. When Holmes started strumming his guitar, Bryan abruptly shouted, “Pass!” before launching into a series of bizarre comments, including declaring, “I can’t stand Michigan,” followed by an insult aimed at Illinois.
Underwood quickly sensed something was off, jokingly asking if Bryan had taken a shot during his bathroom break. Fellow judge Lionel Richie wasn’t in on the prank either, making the moment even more chaotic as Paisley continued to feed Bryan lines through the earpiece.
The antics finally came to an end when Bryan uttered the agreed-upon safe word, “hot chicken.” Paisley then walked out to reveal himself, sending the judges and contestants into laughter. While Richie was completely blindsided, the prank was clearly aimed at Underwood, given her longtime friendship with Paisley, her former CMA Awards co-host.
In the end, Underwood proved she might have the last laugh. “You wanna hear something great? I didn’t think anything was wrong,” she said, joking that Bryan’s strange comments are pretty much par for the course.
