Ellen DeGeneres calls American Idol 'one of the worst decisions I've made'

Ellen Degeneres was an American Idol judge for just one season, calling it 'one of the worst decisions I've made'.

Ellen DeGeneres says her stint on American Idol was "one of the worst decisions" of her career.

The 57-year-old chat show host joined the panel of Idol as a replacement for Paula Abdul on season nine in 2010 but admitted that she loathed her time as a judge and hated crushing people's dreams.

She said: "That's one of the worst decisions I've made. As a fan of the shows, it doesn't matter that I sing or I know anything about pitch or anything, I'm like everybody else at home - it's American Idol. So I thought I'm gonna represent those people at home that have opinions.

"I just thought, like Howard [Stern] says, 'I can't break this person's heart' ... let somebody else do that."

DeGeneres also revealed she is baffled that Caitlyn Jenner still judges gay marriage.

DeGeneres - who is married to actress Portia de Rossi - recently interviewed the transgender reality TV star on her chat show and admitted she found it confusing that Jenner wants to be accepted by the world but refuses to show her support for gay marriage.

DeGeneres told DJ Howard Stern, 61, on his Sirius XM radio show: "She still has a judgment about gay marriage. I said, 'You're wanting people to understand and accept you, this is like really confusing to people. And you want us to understand, and that you still have a judgment about gay people and marriage.'

"And she goes, 'Well, she said if the word marriage is that important' ... and I was like, 'It is, because that's the word.' Like, we want the same thing."

DeGeneres told Howard that she is trying to understand Jenner's life change "because I don't fully understand it either" and added: "But I also want everyone to be happy ... which is what I want for her, for me."

Caitlyn, 65, was known as Bruce Jenner before transitioning from male to female earlier this year.

She still embraces many of her Republican beliefs and DeGeneres revealed that Caitlyn didn't dance on her show, saying: "maybe she didn't want to dance with me because I'm a lesbian".

- Bang! Showbiz