Fox is cleaning house.
E! News reports that judge Nicole Scherzinger, host Steve Jones, and most shockingly, judge Paula Abdul will not be returning to X Factor next season.
After just one season of the singing competition show, Fox reportedly informed Jones, Sherzinger, and Simon Cowell’s longtime friend Paula Abdul they won’t be needed for the series’ next cycle.
“At this point, the only ones staying are Simon and L.A. Reid. Simon wants to take the show in a different direction,” reports E! News.
Jones tweeted Monday afternoon that he would not be returning to the show. Hours later, Fox confirmed to TVGuide.com that Scherzinger would also be exiting. Even later that night, Deadline reported that Abdul had also been cut.
Earlier in the day, E! sources had said Scherzinger made the decision not to continue because the series took too much time away from her recording career, and that Simon Cowell had given her his blessing.
The shake-up come after months of speculation about whether or not Jones and Scherzinger, specifically, would be back. Fans criticized Jones for his heavy accent, abruptly cutting off the judges and for his stiff on-air presence.
Scherzinger also received negative feedback because of her limited professional experience in comparison to fellow judges Cowell, Abdul and L.A. Reid, as well as her excessively soft and sympathetic critiques. U.K.’s Now Magazine reported in November that Cowell was considering replacing Scherzinger with X Factor U.K. judge, former Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland.
Abdul who served as a judge on American Idol for eight seasons, was someone Cowell championed for The X Factor from the start. However, Abdul was the first judge to see all of her final acts eliminated from the competition.
It is unclear who the show may call on to fill the 3 empty spots in Season 2.
The X Factor will return for Season 2 this fall on Fox.
