American Idol has cycled through a decent number of judges over the years, but it’s clear that some of those judges have liked the gig more than others. Recently, former judge Mariah Carey spoke out to say she absolutely hated being on American Idol for the one paltry season she appeared, noting she would never, ever return for the final season of the reality singing competition series.
Hell no! Absolutely not. That was the worst experience of my life.
That’s a pretty adamant response from the singer, who appeared on American Idol back in 2013 opposite Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Randy Jackson. The season was the third to feature four judges, but much of the focus ended up being on Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, who sniped at one another throughout Season 12. Carey also wasn’t great at giving coherent criticisms to the contestants, making her appearance onAmerican Idol not the most revered. It was bad to the point where you have to wonder if Idol feels the same way about Carey as Carey feels about the reality competition series. Here's an example of the crazy stuff that went on.
Carey also told Australia’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show that she didn’t enjoy the way she was treated by the series. She says she felt completely pitted against co-host Nicki Minaj while the show was filming. Both women left after one season on the series.
I’m not going to get into what it was, but let’s just say I don’t think they had any intentions for us to have a good experience doing that show. Pitting two females against each other wasn’t cool. It should have been about the contestants instead of about some nonexistent feud that turned into like even more ridiculousness, and I would never want to be involved with it again. But everyone else can like it.
This isn’t the first time Carey has taken shots at American Idol. A couple of years ago she likened the experience to going to work every day with the devil, calling it ”hell.” A couple of years later, she's still complaining about the gig, and I doubt those negative feelings will go away anytime soon.
Idol announced its 15th and final season just a few weeks ago. At the time, the network stated it has plans in the works to make the final season special. This plan includes bringing back former American Idol judges and contestants to pay tribute to the series’ heyday. I would guess we can expect people like Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell to pop up, along with former contestants. But one thing seems for certain: Mariah Carey won’t be back.
You can find out what else Fox has on it’s fall schedule here. In the meantime, Fox has plenty of programming coming up this summer.
