American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi has admitted that she is behind the decision to hire Ellen DeGeneres as the show’s fourth judge.

“I’m a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan,” the songwriter admitted during an interview on Sirius XM’s The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. “I think she’s going to bring so much to the show.”

“She’s somebody who loves music, she’s positive, she loves kids…She is somebody who has watched the show from the beginning, knows everything there is to know about American Idol and I think ultimately it’s going to be a great new energy.”

Kara is also thrilled that everyone won’t be talking about her relationship and supposed feud with Paula this year.

“Oh my god, thank you!!…Oh god!!” she replied when Flick asked about moving on from last year’s speculation.

“It was pretty hellish,” DioGuardi admitted..

“Yeah, I got slagged,” she said. “People were…it was difficult for them to accept the change. It was difficult for them to understand why somebody who nobody had ever heard of could kind of come out of nowhere and sit next to these iconic figures. You know, why was I there, what did I do to deserve to do to be there?”

“It will just be easier this year because I’m not as fearful as I was last year…For someone who’s never been on live television it’s very, very challenging to go from the back of the studio to the number one TV show, and that kind of visibility. And it was very, very, very scary.”

Kara DioGuardi has insisted that she was not drafted onto the American Idol panel last year to replace Paula Abdul.

“The way I’m understanding it is that it was her choice to leave,” she told show host Ryan Seacrest’s radio show. “I never was here to replace her. It would be impossible to replace Paula Abdul.

“She’s an incredible talent. She is somebody who helped make the show as big as it is. How could you ever replace that?”

DioGuardi added: “It’s such a loss for the show, such a loss for the contestants. She’s definitely the heart of the panel.”

American Idol bosses are delighted that Kara DioGuardi is to return as a judge for the 2010 series.

Her return to the show was confirmed this week, though Paula Abdul’s position is still said to be hanging in the balance.

Idol executive producer Simon Fuller told The Live Feed: “We are so happy to welcome back Kara for her second season with Idol – she is a breath of fresh air and her passion for music and her understanding of talent is invaluable.”

He went on: “This show is all about discovering new talent, and Kara’s championing of Adam Lambert is proof positive of her great instinct.”

Mike Darnell from the US Fox network said: “Kara’s spitfire personality and sharp musical sensibility infused American Idol with a new energy last year.

“She clearly has a keen eye for talent – spotting Adam Lambert’s superstar quality early on last season.”

“Her performance on the season eight finale was one of the most memorable in recent Idol history,” he added, referring to Kara’s bikini performance of Vision Of Love with Katrina ‘Bikini Girl’ Darrell.

There has been much speculation on which judges will be returning for this year’s American Idol, but reports have suggested that Kara DioGuardi WILL be back.

A show insider told Eonline:

“Her deal is done. There are no ifs, ands or buts,” a source said. “Done. She will be back.”

However the source added that Kara’s fee isn’t even close to what Simon and Randy have been promised, or even to what Paula is asking for. I bet it’s still enough to make her a pretty wealthy woman though!

“American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi has married her Fiancé Mike Cuddy in Maine.

A spokeswoman for DioGuardi told People magazine that the ceremony took place on July 5 at Prospect Harbor United Methodist Church.

People revealed that the gorgeous Kara wore a Vera Wang dress, as well as a 30-carat diamond-and-platinum bracelet and chandelier earrings with 20 carats of diamonds. Bling bling!

Last night’s American Idol threw up a lot of surprises, but for me the biggest was seeing Kara DioGuardi perform a duet with bikini girl in her very own skimpy swimwear.

Check out the video above and hear Kara belting out Mariah’s Vision Of Love. I have to say with a voice like that she could have won American Idol herself. It beats Paula Abdul’s recent performance hands down.

Simon Cowell has insisted that American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi will be back to for another season of American Idol.

“I think certainly next year everyone’s going to be back,” he told Ellen Degeneres on her talk show.

Last week Kara said that she was probably going to stick to one season only, who knows what to believe.

Simon also admitted that having foru judges on the show can often restrict the time they get to critique the singers.

“There’s less time for us to talk,” he said.

“One week literally we couldn’t talk, so ten minutes before the show started they said, ‘Oh by the way you can’t talk for half the show’.

“It’s rather like saying in a singing competition to the singers, half of you can’t sing. It was just crazy.”

Kara DioGuardi has admitted that she isn’t sure about returning as a judge to American idol next year, saying she only ever intended to do one season.

“That’s what we’ve discussed. So we’ll see what happens. Hopefully they’ll keep me on,” she told TV Guide.

However when asked if DioGuardi would be returning next season, Simon Cowell said that he “would imagine so”.

“The only say I have is about Ryan, Randy and Paula. I’ve always made it clear that I wouldn’t like to do the show without them,” he said. “So that’s all I’m really concerned about.”

DioGuardi added that she was “grateful to America” for letting her “find her groove on the show”.

“Hopefully, I haven’t disappointed them. It’s been a scary experience at times,” she said.

Kara DioGuardi joined the American Idol judging panel this series and says she didn’t realise what a huge undertaking the show would be.

“I probably in my own way didn’t really take in what a huge thing it was,” she told The AP.

“Until I kind of showed up and was like, ‘Oh my God! What am I doing here? This is, like, huge!’ And then it really hit me when we went live that, wow, ‘I’ve got to speak live in front of 30 million people?’”

She continued: “It’s not an easy job. I mean, there was nothing wrong with that panel. It wasn’t like I had to fix something. It was great. So to come in and kind of be part of it was really tricky.

“So I look at it sometimes and I think, ‘All right, maybe I could have done this better or that better,’ but I’m literally just trying not to act like a bumbling moron because I’m so, you know, nervous at times.”

American Idol judge, Kara DioGuardi has expressed her disappointment with fellow judge Paula Abdul after she stated that the show didn’t work with Kara on the panel.

Paula revealed in an interview with American OK magazine that she felt Kara’s presence slowed the pace of the show, but Kara hit back in an interview with Access Hollywood saying:

“Paula has a right to her opinions, but I was disappointed by her comments, and hurt that she did not address them to me in person,” she said.

“I’m proud of my contributions to the show and remain excited about the rest of the season.”

However, a representative for Abdul has insisted that her quote has been “taken out of context”, saying: “She was referring to previous ‘guest judges’ from past seasons. Not Kara.”