“I won’t be returning to ‘The X Factor’ next season,” show judge Paula Abdul said Tuesday afternoon in a statement, bringing the Fox singing competition’s body count to three.
“I’ve learned through my longevity in this industry that business decisions often times override personal considerations. Simon and I, along with Fox and Fremantle, have been communicating about this for a while now, and I have absolute understanding of the situation,” Abdul added.
More from Lisa de Moraes
Pulitzer Prize winner, Peabody recipient, Medal of Freedom honoree -- Lisa de Moraes is none of these, but she is an authority on the bad direction, over-acting, and muddled plot lines being played out in the TV industry's executive suites.
“The situation” is that last fall, creator Simon Cowell delivered to the network only a successful show — not the 20 million-viewer ratings behemoth he’d bragged it would be.
This week, a humbled Cowell began changing the show in preparation for its second season after poring over the results of recent focus-group testing conducted by Fox and the production company Fremantle.
When the dust settled Tuesday afternoon, Cowell — who is also a judge/mentor on the show — and judge/mentor L.A. Reid were the only ones left standing. Abdul, judge/mentor Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones had all been scrapped.
“I want to say a massive thank you to Paula, Nicole and Steve for being part of ‘The X Factor’ last year,” Cowell said Tuesday in a statement. “We had a lot of fun making the show together and importantly, we found some real talent and stars.”
The “X”-odus began Monday afternoon when Jones tweeted: “I wont be hosting next seasons X Factor which is a shame but I cant complain as Ive had a great time. Good luck to everyone on the show.”
Then a Scherzinger rep whispered something to the news media about her having decided to focus on her singing career instead of “The X Factor.”
Later Monday, Fox announced that Jones and Scherzinger were out — a surprise to no one because their exits had been the subject of speculation for more than a couple of months.
Paula’s departure, on the other hand, surprised many, given that Cowell made such a point of bringing her back by his side — as she’d been when both were judges on Fox’s other singing competition series, “American Idol.”
“You do develop friendships with the people you work with and Paula, in particular, is a very close friend,” Cowell acknowledged Tuesday in his official so long to the three.
“I expect to be working with her on another project in the near future. I’m sure all three are going to have massive success in what they do next, but now is the time to thank them all for everything they did last year,” he added.
According to an informed source, focus groups said that as mentors, a Pussycat Doll and a former Laker Girl simply did not stack up to Cowell and Reid.
Reid, the former chief executive of Island Def Jam Music Group, is maybe best known for signing Mariah Carey, Pink, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Kanye West and Usher, among others.
Focus-group participants said they did not want to be entertained by the show’s mentors. They want the mentors to actually give “X”-testants serious critiques and guidance — in an entertaining way.
And here, in Cowell’s own words, is how Scherzinger would critique “X”-testants during the show’s first season:
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