Potentially out of a job, she’s still laughing all the way to the bank

American Idol producers were hoping Nicki Minaj would add some spice to the stale reality show. While the plan worked at first, the hype got old quick and dedicated Idol viewers began to call for Minaj’s firing.

Producers knew all along Minaj and fellow judge Mariah Carey would try to out diva each other. That worked, too though cynical reality show viewers quickly smelled something wrong.

The audition rounds when Minaj and Carey had their controversial cat fights made headlines but when the show actually aired on Fox, we didn’t even see the hoopla that was shown on grainy and shaky cameraphone footage that was allegedly “leaked” to the tabloids.

Minaj can claim victory in the diva battle as she continued during the live shows. She showed up late, despite being required to be at work at least an hour before taping. Minaj blamed traffic but anybody who’s been to Los Angeles — and I’m only there a few times per year and I know better — knows you give yourself lots of extra time ’cause you ain’t in Kansas anymore on those freeways.

Minaj’s antics have angered viewers as she continues to play by her own rules, swearing and using plays on words to swear, and also leaving the set when one of her favourite contestants faced elimination.

Whether or not Minaj is being used as a pawn by producers to be the evil figure this season is unclear but it’s more than likely she won’t be returning for a second season if audience reaction has anything to do with it. Though if Minaj is like any other reality show judge, she’ll be fine with getting fired after collecting her reported $12 million paycheque for being American Idol’s hooligan judge this season.

And at the end of the day: love her or hate her, she’s still making way more money than most of us here in little ol’ Canada. And she doesn’t even have to show up on time for work.

Geez, I’m totally in the wrong line of work.