Paula Abdul Axed From The X-Factor

Despite a longtime friendship, The X-Factor creator/producer Simon Cowell has canned Paula Abdul as a judge from the show. This latest news comes on the heels of a major shakeup at the Fox reality series. In a mass cull, both judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, and host Steve Jones will not be returning for season 2.

“They survived this year, but it didn’t really work. So they’ve figured they have an opportunity to fix it. They expected Paula to be the goofy girl, and Nicole to be the pretty one. But Paula was so bad that it made none of it work," a show insider said.

It would appear that the only individual, save for Cowell, who will be returning next season is judge and record producer extraordinaire, L.A. Reid.

“At this point, the only ones staying are Simon and L.A. Reid. Simon wants to take the show in a different direction. The plan is to part ways amicably,” a source told E! News.

“I won’t be hosting next seasons X-Factor which is a shame but I can’t complain as I’ve had a great time. Good luck to everyone on the show. (sic)” Steve Jones later tweeted.

Perhaps the impetus for the clean up, was X-Factor’s relatively poor performance in the rating last season. Despite Cowell’s high expectations, the show had significantly less viewership than his quondam series, American Idol.