LOS ANGELES — Ellen DeGeneres makes her long-awaited American Idol debut Tuesday night and she insists there won’t be many fireworks.
“Everyone’s making such a big deal of the tension, but there’s been a lot of fun on that panel,” the 52-year-old DeGeneres told Ryan Seacrest on his KISS-FM radio show Tuesday.
So what about all the chatter that she’s been clashing with fellow judge Simon Cowell?
“I think he’s a funny guy,” she told Seacrest. “I like him on Wednesday[‘s show]. I like him on one day, I can’t remember which. He’s going to be a challenge. He’s Simon and I’m me and we’re two different people. We’ll see how it goes.”
DeGeneres said she’ll mix in humor when appropriate, but stressed that she differs from Cowell and the other judges — Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi.
“Yes, it’s a show and I want it to be entertaining and I want to be funny, but at the same time, it’s somebody’s career,” she explained. That’s what’s great about all four of us [judges] — we couldn’t be more different in style… I like a challenge, and this is going to be good.”
Cowell has already announced that this will be his last Idol season in order to focus on The X Factor‘s 2011 launch in the U.S. So can the show survive without its cranky star?
“Ellen brings a huge fanbase and people will be curious to see how she does. But if she performs poorly, that is bad for the show’s long-term health,” Entertainment Weekly senior writer Michael Slezak told Reuters.
