Ryan Seacrest Surprises ‘American Idol’ Judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie in Easter Bunny Costume

The latest episode of American Idol fell on Easter Sunday and host Ryan Seacrest got fans in the holiday spirit with a promo that doubled as a holiday celebration. On Sunday, Seacrest posted a video of himself dressed up in an Easter Bunny costume, hopping around the Idol set to surprise some of his castmates, including judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.

Set to “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang, the clip followed a bunny-suited Seacrest as he made his way into Bryan’s trailer and ran into Richie on set. “Holy crap,” Bryan declared, giving the host a hug after he revealed who was under the white fur. “I freaked you out?” he asked Richie, who told him, “I’m so happy it was you.” At the end of the video, Seacrest removed the bunny head and declared, “All right, let’s do the show!” “Making sure the hip hop don’t stop!” his caption read. “Happy Easter to everyone, especially @lukebryan and @lionelrichie.”

Sunday’s episode of Idol featured 12 of the Top 24 contestants battling it out to advance in the competition and teaming up with famous duet partners including Jimmie Allen and Idol alum Katharine McPhee. The second half of the group will perform during Monday’s episode. The performances were held in the studio in front of a small audience, and Seacrest told Entertainment Weekly that he, Bryan, Richie and judge Katy Perry were happy to be able to return to in-person shows.

“For all of us to be in an environment where there’s energy, we come alive too. We all feed off of that,” he said. “As Katy said in one of the shows recently: We’re not going to space, we’re not doing surgery, we’re not doing real work — we’re in show business, it’s supposed to be entertainment, it’s escapism. So the fun that we have is exponentially more when we’re around people. I think the performers feel like performers, obviously, too when they’re on stage.”

The fate of the Top 24 is now in the hands of viewers after the judges were tasked with narrowing down the contestants, something Bryan said he “never really” gets used to. “We’re able to encourage these kids to not let us be the reason that they would ever give up on their music dreams. … I want everybody to be happy, I don’t want to upset anybody and hurt people’s feelings — it’s just kinda my nature — but sometimes you just have to tell the truth and tell them that wasn’t their best performance,” he explained. “They need to hear that. but I think we’ve done a great job at being really constructive with it.”