Simon Cowell not returning for final ‘American Idol’ season (big surprise)

We’re not entirely sure that anyone genuinely thought that Simon Cowell would be making some sort of last-minute comeback onto “American Idol” for the final season of the show, but for those of you who did, here is your verification that he is definitely not going to be a presence.

Speaking to “Extra,” Cowell (who is of course the main man over on “The X Factor” in the UK) said that he “kind of said goodbye many years ago” to the series, but also added that he would “flip the light switch out at the end or something” as a joke. Simon was such a revelation at the time of the show’s first season. He was a completely fresh face, and a guy who was completely unafraid to be mean while everyone around him was nice. Ultimately, he was in some ways the guy who started it all as far as mean judges on reality television go.

We still feel like there’s at least a chance that we see some more of Simon before we get to the end of “American Idol,” even if it is a small cameo somewhere. We feel like it would be nice for the show to at least reference him along with Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, given that they were the only people aboard the series really for a long period of time.

We’ll have some other news on “American Idol” when it starts to come out, as auditions are going to be taking place throughout the summer.

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