Jim Carrey wowed the 12 American Idol finalists live on Wednesday by dressing up as an elephant and then joining the nervous wannabes onstage as they awaited their fate on results night.

Carrey was promoting his new movie Horton Hears A Who?, in which he voices a curious elephant, and joked he sometimes finds it hard to shake a character he plays.

He added, "I’ve lost a lot of weight." Carrey then pretended to be among those fighting for survival on the hit talent show, sitting among the 12 finalists and nervously regretting a fictional song choice.