Ellen: It's Hard to Listen to Simon

We all know by now that Simon Cowell is the “mean” judge. Call him what you will, but he definitely knows his stuff when it comes to judging on American Idol.

Newest member to the show Ellen DeGeneres has been a fan of the show for years, and says she was still shocked by Simon harsh ways. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Ellen says, "I had one idea of Simon when I came in, and it's changed. He's actually meaner than I thought. ... It's hard to listen to him tell people things and me not to go, 'You poor thing!'"

But it seems Simon’s no nonsense attitude has rubbed off a little on Degeneres. "I'm getting good at delivering bad news, myself, but I'm trying to do it in a tender way. ... I hate hurting people's feelings, so that, I think, is the hardest part,” she explains.

So what can we expect from the frontrunners of the competition this year? Ellen has high hopes. She says, "I think we have good people ... I'm going to fight very, very hard to keep the people that I believe in, so that we have a wide variety ... somebody for everybody, I hope."

We won’t have to wait too much longer to see her on the judging panel—Ellen’s first Idol episode airs February 9th!