Lythgoe explained, "I'd read for a week that we were going to be fired in different papers and magazines, so it didn't come as too much of a surprise when I got a telephone call on Friday. I was grateful to get the call."

He added that the drama between judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj was not good for the show. "I don't think it was the talent� it didn't help not having that chemistry, not having the camaraderie we had in the past."