Where Are They Now? OG ‘American Idol’ Judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson

On Monday night, ABC’s American Idol announced that some OG judges from the competition would be making a return during tonight’s episode. Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, who judged the competition from 2002 to 2009 alongside Simon Cowell, will be serving as mentors in the show’s current season. Abdul will also serve as a guest judge alongside this year’s judges.

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Tonight’s show is being promoted as a “20th High School Reunion”- themed episode, which means it will also feature appearances by some iconic American Idol alumni.

Actress Danielle Fishel recently announced that this year’s Top 5 will also perform alongside some of these esteemed guests.

“We are going to party like it’s 2006, when some of the favorite top 10 finalists from that historic season will return to duet with this season’s Top 5,” Fishel announced on the American Idol official podcast.

The actress revealed that the lineup of all-star fans can expect to see includes Taylor Hicks, Paris Bennett, Kellie Pickler, Elliot Yamin, and Bucky Covington.

What Have the OG Judges Been up To?

After her departure from Idol, Abdul has served as a judge on other competitions, including Live to Dance and the first U.S. season of The X Factor. She was also a judge on So You Think You Can Dance? and The Masked Singer for two seasons each.

As for Jackson, the record executive was the last original judge to leave American Idol in 2014, following Cowell’s departure in 2010. In 2020, he returned to the television space as a host on the show Name That Tune.

In 2014, the record executive also worked with Everyday Health to launch “Diabetes Step by Step,” a platform that spreads awareness about diabetes. Jackson was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2002, and has also lost over 114 pounds since.

On his relationships with his fellow OG Idol judges, Jackson told Closer Weekly that they still keep in touch.

“Simon, Paula, and I are all still very close,” he shared. “We’ll have dinner, we’ll chat on the phone. We’ve been plotting ideas for a couple years now. Maybe one of these years we’ll put something together.”

Now that a TV reunion is officially happening for Abdul and Jackson, we couldn’t be more excited.

American Idol airs Mondays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)