American Idol could've looked VERY different back in the day if the producers went with their original choices for the judges' panel. Host extraordinaire Ryan Seacrest reveals in a new behind-the-scenes interview about the history of the long-running reality singing competition that he was initially approached to be the show's third judge, rather than the iconic host fans know him as now. As producers set out to recreate the success of Britain's Pop Idol for an American audience, they decided to bring the U.K. version's four-person judges' table down to three, settling on Pop Idol's Simon Cowell and actual pop idol Paula Abdul as the first two judges. But it was when they were searching for the third panelist that they found Seacrest. The one problem?he wasn't sure he wanted to do it. Instead, he asked whether they'd chosen a host yet, because that was his ideal role.