‘American Idol’ season 12: Exex tries to ease over Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey ‘fight’

The executive producer of “American Idol” is pretty much doing everything he can at this point to demonstrate one simple point: despite what you may be hearing in the tabloids regarding Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, everyone is getting along and proving to be a happy (but dysfunctional) family.

Take for example this image to the left, which shows off Mariah Carey alongside a hopeful and who may very well be a family center from the show’s recent audition taping in Baton Rogue. The image was posted by Nigel Lythgoe, who insisted that the judges are “loving” the auditions so far and are enjoying filming them … even in spite of just about everything that you may be hearing at the moment in the tabloids about their fighting backstage taking away from the sense of fun and energy that we are seeing on the show itself.

In addition to this photo, we also have one of Minaj showing off her audition-show look with one of the other hopefuls. It’s unclear just how many golden tickets have been handed out in the competition thus far, but we are interested in seeing here is who is going to be this year’s version of Colton Dixon or Hollie Cavanagh, who each auditioned the year before, were cut during Hollywood Week, but ultimately made their way back and went far in the competition. Colton’s sister Schyler Dixon seems like a strong candidate to return, as does Johnny Keyser and David Leathers Jr. (who both went very far only to be cut at the very last minute before the live shows).

What former contestants do you want to see back on the show again, and what do you think about Nigel continuing to insist that there is peace behind the scenes on the show?