Danielle Fishel Tapped to Host ‘American Idol’ Companion Podcast

Danielle Fishel is moving from one reality show to the next.

Variety reports that the Dancing With the Stars Season 34 contestant will be hosting American Idol’s new companion podcast.

Launching on Wednesday on Disney+, ulu, and other podcast platforms, American Idol Official Podcast will “dive deeper into America’s most iconic music competition series, exploring the performances everyone’s talking about, and offering exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and expert analysis of the judges’ critiques.”

Fishel is no stranger to podcasts. Since 2022, she’s hosted the Boy Meets World rewatch podcast Pod Meets World with co-stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle. During her time on DWTS last year, she also hosted Danielle With the Stars, taking fans on her DWTS journey, which unfortunately came to an end in early November when she and partner Pasha Pashkov were eliminated and came in eighth place.

That’s not all. Fishel hosts the Teen Beat podcast, bringing on Millennial favorites to chat with them and look back at her own diaries. In 2025, she signed a new overall deal with iHeartMedia. Additionally, Fishel and her husband, Jensen Karp, are producers on Teen Beat, How Rude, Tanneritos!, Magical Rewind, and Pod Meets World. She is continuing to stay busy in the podcast space with American Idol Official Podcast, which will likely include some fun surprises for Idol fans of all ages.

It was announced in February that Disney+ and Hulu would be launching a companion podcast to coincide with the start of the live shows. The live shows, meanwhile, are being streamed live on Disney+ for the first time ever, following in the footsteps of DWTS, which simulcasts live on ABC and Disney+. The first live stream will be on Monday on Disney+, and will continue to air on ABC stations in local time zones on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.

American Idol’s ninth season on ABC, 24^th overall, premiered in January and was its most-watched premiere in four years with an average of 8.27 million viewers in live+3 and multiplatform viewing. Ryan Seacrest returned as host, alongside veteran judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Carrie Underwood, who joined as a judge last season to replace Katy Perry. New episodes of Idol air on Mondays and stream the next day on Hulu. Beginning on Monday, they will also stream live on Disney+.