Ellen On Joining ‘Idol’: ‘I Can’t Wait’

Is Ellen DeGeneres ready to judge “American Idol?” The reality competition’s new permanent fourth judge told her new colleague, host Ryan Seacrest, on his radio show on Thursday morning that she’s going to “opinionate.”

“It’s ironic, isn’t it?” Ellen said, noting that she’d undergone plenty of judgment over the years regarding her sexuality. “I really do pride myself on not judging. We had ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’ on the other day, so I do judge. But I try to remind myself that everyone is who they are for a reason. It’s gonna be a fine line – I’ll be honest, I don’t like to judge people. I like to opinionate in a necessary way.”

Still, Ellen said she’s already preparing to join the judges’ table.

“I’m getting fitted for robes. Judge Judy and I are going to hang out, so I’m getting ready,” she joked. “I haven’t even talked to Randy or Kara or Simon, but this is going to be a whole lot of fun.”

Asked by Ryan how she’ll keep up with her daytime program, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” she said she’ll be trying to keep up with the busy radio host.

“Yesterday I took a bagging job at Whole Foods,” she joked to Ryan. “I’m trying to keep up with you. I’m not worried about that. What you have to do is a lot harder than me sitting there and listening – I do that at home anyway.”

And “Idol,” she said, will play a big part in her show from now on.

“I’ll get to talk about it on my show every day – it’s going to be great,” Ellen said. “This is our seventh season and I think it’ll add a whole lot of content to my show and I hope I’ll bring something [to ‘Idol’] that is fresh.”

“American Idol” Season 9 premieres in January 2010.