Ryan Seacrest had to swap underwear with his stylist during the 'American Idol' finale because his pants were too revealing

• Ryan Seacrest had a wardrobe emergency during Sunday's finale of "American Idol."
• He told his talk-show audience that his pants were accidentally showing his "anatomy," referring to his genitals.

"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest had a wardrobe emergency during Sunday's live broadcast of the competition's finale.

Seacrest wound up swapping boxers with a stylist named Miles during the commercial break — a quick fix to the problem of Seacrest's "anatomy," referring to his genitals, showing through his pants.

Seacrest told the story to his co-host Kelly Ripa during Monday morning's installment of "Live with Kelly and Ryan."

"Miles is in charge of the suits that I put on — he make sure everything's lined up and buttoned," Seacrest said to Ripa. "You know when you go to a commercial, and they go, 'Can I tell you something? You need to change your underwear.'"

The host said he was confused at first, and then was told that viewers had noticed "anatomy in the shot" of Seacrest onstage in his suit pants. But Seacrest didn't have any extra underwear. The host says Miles simply told him: "Don't worry, I've got mine." The two men quickly undressed and exchanged boxers.

"He's English so he has shorter, tighter ones," Seacrest explained to an indignant Ripa, who insisted that the solution should have been to change the camera shot, not swap underwear.

"So we go backstage during the commercial and find a little corner and I'm literally taking off my pants and underwear and putting his on," Seacrest said. "Anything for the show, right? It's a family show."

Ripa asked him to explain exactly what was wrong with his "underpants" in the first place.

"Was it diminishing or enhancing?" she asked, referring to whether the issue made his genitals appear smaller or larger.

"I didn't read the comments and I never will," Seacrest replied. But then an audience member appeared to confirm it was "enhancing" and Ripa said she would have insisted that the original underwear "stay."

Seacrest ended the segment saying there was "a panic" about the underwear but Miles fixed it, making it a "television first" for the veteran host.

You can watch Seacrest and Ripa discuss the incident below: