Mariah Carey - Ryan Seacrest Calls Mariah Carey: "Welcome To The Family"

Seacrest said, "I actually called her last night and I said, 'So welcome to the family.I said, 'What are you going to be like on the show? She said, 'You know how I am: I'm very honest. I say what I'm thinking.' I said, 'Great. You'll fit right in". Mariah takes the place of the departing Jennifer Lopez, who has served two seasons on the show while enjoying a career resurgence of sorts. Seacrest said, "We're sad to see her go", though quickly turned attention to the one remaining spot on the panel (following Steven Tyler's departure). He said, "I've heard rumors of Brad Paisley, I've heard rumors of Pink, I've heard rumors about all kinds of people. And the way that it works is we read about the rumors and about an hour before it's confirmed I get a call saying, 'Guess who's on the show". Paisley is certainly the man on everybody's lips at the moment, with American Idol bosses understood to be looking to landing a big name country star.

Carey was first linked with the show a couple of seasons ago, though fell pregnant with twins.