Paula Abdul On Why She Finally Said ‘Yes’ To Guest Judging On So You Think You Can Dance

Paula Abdul made her first visit as a guest judge on “So You Think You Can Dance” on Tuesday night, and she told Access Hollywood what took so long to get her in a chair.

“I waited 12 seasons to beat him up,” Paula laughed, referring to “SYTYCD” judge Nigel Lythgoe, her former boss at “American Idol.”

“Nigel and I have gone back and forth, back and forth. I needed the separation from doing ‘American Idol’ before I came on to do this,” she added. “I just felt it’s time. When I was asked, I was like, ‘You know what? It’s time.’”

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Paula is no stranger to judging dance competitions. She had her own show, “Live To Dance,” which lasted one season on CBS, and she has appeared as a guest judge on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” And, being on the “SYTYCD” set last night brought back a lot of memories.

“I can’t get away from this sound stage. I’m either here, there, here or there. I did ‘Live to Dance,’ my CBS show here, ‘American Idol’ obviously here, then I did ‘X Factor’ here, then I did ‘Dancing with the Stars’ here and now I’m back doing ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ here,” she said. “I think that I am made to be working at this CBS lot on these sound stages.”

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Paula also wound up backstage in familiar territory.

“[The] worse thing is I keep banging into the wrong dressing room. I can’t get it right,” she said.

Backstage at “SYTYCD,” Paula also shared her thoughts with Access over the news that “American Idol” Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard is heading to NBC’s “Biggest Loser” to compete, when the weight loss competition show returns in the fall.

“Extremely proud,” she said. “I think that taking his health as a No. 1 priority is what’s needed and my hat’s off to him. He’s a wonderful person with an enormous talent and now we need to take his body frame and make that smaller so he can live a long time to celebrate his beautiful voice.”

Jolie Lash

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