Bo Bice Compares ‘The Floor’ to ‘American Idol’ Finale With Carrie Underwood

Twenty years after Bo Bice was named runner-up on Season 4 of American Idol (the year Carrie Underwood won the show), he’s back on television as a contestant on The Floor. Although the two shows are quite different, Bice told TV Insider he actually felt reminiscent about his time on Idol as he got to know his fellow competitors on The Floor.

“These little squares [on The Floor] become people, and those people become relationships, and those relationships become bonds. Before you know it, you’re friends with people and you forget a little bit that this is a competition,” the singer explained. “That’s kind of how I felt at the finale of American Idol, standing next to Carrie. Because we were extremely close, and I don’t know if people know that.”

Bice recalled being “close friends” with the country singer and said they both couldn’t believe what was happening when they made it to the finale. “Even though on The Floor, it wasn’t all eyes on me, it was all eyes on 100 people, it was something that was really cool to have that element of kinship with the other people,” he added.

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Scroll down for more from our chat with Bice about his experience on The Floor.

How did your appearance on The Floor come about and why were you interested in being on the show?

Number one, I’m a fan of [host] Rob Lowe. I think he’s incredible. Really funny guy, too. So I’ve been a fan of the show and been following it. I knew what it was when they reached out to me. It was so interesting because I’ve been on many reality shows, several of them, and to be able to do something that was more game show oriented, it was just a lot of fun. There are a lot of elements about this that really interested me when they called. Like I said, being a fan of Rob, I’m a big fan of Fox, obviously, because of my relationship with them. They’ve always been great to me over the years. So It was really a no-brainer to get this opportunity with 100 other people and getting to play this really cool game.

What did you do to prepare for the show?

I was pretty stoked about my category, but it’s not really about knowing your category, it’s about knowing 99 other categories. That’s what was really hard to study for. There were ones where I go back and I’m like, “Man, I learned this in school, never thought I’d use this again!” Then there are other ones that are just everyday knowledge and some are really cool. One of my favorites was The Simpsons, which was close to me. You can study in so many different ways and so many different ways can be wrong. … So it was a very hard game once you get into it, and I have to say it was a bit nerve-wracking because with each category you saw unfold as you’re watching the game, you saw just how minute of a difference it made in studying. When you left to do the studies for the next filming, it would kind of make you change your mindset or strategy. Like, OK, I’ve been really focused on studying this way, maybe I need to shift gears from what I’ve seen so far in the competition. It was a very strange kind of feeling. It was up in the air how you would study. Each day it would change.

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Did you know you would be featured as a public figure on the show and did that add pressure to wanting to perform well?

I’ve never looked at myself as a celebrity in any way. I’m Bo. I’m still the same fella that I’ve seen for almost 50 years when I look in the mirror. So when I show up and I do shows, I don’t really have an expectation of a celebrity showing up, so [others] should know that I’m on the show. I always looked at it as the categories are the star of the show and Rob, the host of the show, was the element that made everything tied together with the characters, which were us. So I didn’t really feel any specific “celebrity” aspect.

To be quite honest with you, I kind of flew under the radar when we got there for a while until we got to announcement day when they announce where you’re standing and stuff like that, and then more people out of the 100 were like, “Oh, that guy’s here! From American Idol!” So that’s more how the experience was for me. Through that, I think I was able to make some genuine relationships with people and I know I walked away with several friends from this opportunity, so that was a special part of it as well.

The Floor, Season 4, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox