'American Idol' season 17: Has the series become a fallback plan for those who fail on America's Got Talent?

'American Idol' season 17 is set to premiere in little less than two weeks on ABC. With 16 seasons done and dusted till date, the reality TV competition series has come a long way. Even though Fox canceled it in 2015, the series was taken up by ABC in 2018 for season 16 and 'American Idol' is back again for season 17 on March 3. With hopes of getting its viewer ratings back to what it was before, the show is back bigger than ever. 

With Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan taking their seats as judges for the season, the hype has started. Though the entire list of contestants who auditioned has not been revealed, fans have been doing their own snooping around. And from that, they found out that Chloe Channell a former America's Got Talent contestant will be performing on the show. Channell appeared on season 8 of America's Got Talent. She made it to the quarterfinals and was eliminated. Channell was just 11-years-old when she auditioned. 

Now at the age of 18, she is back on 'American Idol' with hopes to win the title. Channell is not the first 'America's Got Talent' contestant to perform on 'American Idol.' She is just one among the many who had previously auditioned. If you have kept up with 'American Idol' over the years, you would have noticed contestants like Mara Justine, Jenna Renae, Jessica Sanchez, Christy Marie, Olivia Rox, Thia Megia, Robert Hatcher, Udi Abagnale, Shevonne, Stephanie Sanson and many more had previously appeared on 'America's Got Talent'. 

Though some didn't make it too far, there were contestants who made it to the top 10 as well. Looking back at the history of contestants who appeared on AGT before American Idol makes it seem like Idol has become a second option for AGT contestants.  Of course, when it comes to singing competitions crossovers aren't new. But the contestants coming to Idol after either AGT or The Voice is really high.

But why would the contestants who already appeared on other singing competitions appear on Idol? Could it be because AGT has other genres as well, so a singer doesn't have that big a chance to become famous, unlike American Idol which is solely for singers? We will never know. Even when an AGT contestant appears on Idol, there is not much we hear Ryan Seacrest talk about their previous journey. But that does not mean people on the internet will forget about it. 

Another reason why other singing competition contestants audition for Idol could be because this series has spun out many famous artists who have made it big in the music industry, unlike the other competitions. Maybe according to them appearing on Idol would give them more scope in the music industry. We will never know. But all we know is even though Idol was canceled once it still holds a high reputation and has not lost its place at the top.

'American Idol' premieres March 3 on ABC. Check your local listings for more information.