There is a good reason Ellen DeGeneres only served one season as an American Idol judge. She absolutely hated it. The talk show host and actress told Howard Stern in an interview this week that deciding to come on as a judge for American Idol season 9 was “one of the worst decisions I’ve made.”
Ellen DeGeneres said in the Howard Stern interview that being an American Idol judge was much more difficult than she thought it would be. Especially when she had to make the decision to say ‘no’ to a hopeful contestant.
“As a fan of the shows, it doesn’t matter that I sing or I know anything about pitch or anything, I’m like everybody else at home,” DeGeneres said about choosing to be a judge on the series. “It’s American Idol. You’re watching and you’re a fan. So I thought I’m gonna represent those people at home that have opinions.”
Being an American Idol judge didn’t turn out to be quite so simple, however. Fans watching the show quickly started criticizing DeGeneres for her less than noteworthy critiques, and her difficulty in telling contestants when they just truly did a bad job. DeGeneres told Stern that it was just too hard for her to say no. “… I just thought… I can’t break this person’s heart. Let somebody else do that.”