Ellen DeGeneres joins American Idol

Fox announced on Wednesday that Ellen DeGeneres will officially be the fourth judge for season 9 of American Idol. She will now join the lineup of judges from Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, to Kara DioGuardi.

DeGeneres’ inclusion as a judge surprised many Idol fans since she’s admittedly not a singer or exposed to the music scene except that she has a passion for tunes. On an episode for her talk show, DeGeneres said that she can’t wait to announce it and has been “dying to tell everyone” about it.

The Emmy-awardee talk show host is filling in the spot left by Paula Abdul. What does Ellen DeGeneres, American Idol have in common? Both are popular. That would basically be her niche.

This is not the first time for DeGeneres to be a judge for a show. It can be remembered that she was a guest judge once in the dance reality show “So You Think You Can Dance.” She also co-hosted the charity event of Idol entitled “Idol Gives Back.”