The three finalists who made it to the finale were Gabby Barrett, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, and Maddie Poppe.
Even Jimmy Kimmel popped out for a gag involving a time capsule, Season 6 finalist Sanjaya Malakar, Season 6 finalist Sanjaya Malakar’s hair, and various other mementos from the original run of the series.
Eventually, however, Seacrest got down to business and eliminated one of the contestants: Gabby Barrett.
Given that the finale was a two-hour event, there was a lot of time to kill before the big announcement in the final minutes of the episode.