By SHARMILA NAIR
alltherage@thestar.com.my

EVERYONE loves a bit of drama – especially when it is captured on camera for all to see. But the kind of drama that is currently going on in American Idol is getting pretty intense, and a little scary to be honest.

If you haven’t heard the news, newly-minted American Idol judge Nicki Minaj allegedly threatened to shoot Mariah Carey, another newbie judge, after a heated argument during the show’s tryout segment.

Minaj was reportedly caught on camera swearing at Carey and saying, “I’m going to knock you out,” and worse when she walked off set, several people heard the Superbass singer claiming, “If I had a gun, I would shoot the b***h.”

The so-called threat was not caught on camera and Minaj even acknowledged it in one of her tweets. “Ironically no camera or mic heard the gun comment tho. LOL @ the struggle. Not even the producers believed u,” she tweeted.

From left: Mariah Carey, Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj.

Arguments among judges are not new on American Idol, which is currently in its 12th year, and is in fact one of the reasons why people actually tune in to watch that show.

Everyone remembers how former judges Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell used to argue on the show all the time. Cowell had very little patience for Abdul’s lack of intelligence and had often “bullied” her with his witty and nasty comments. It was fun to watch them bicker and see Randy Jackson trying not to pick sides although on most days, he backed up Abdul who needed all the support she could have to get even with Cowell.

And when Steven Tyler and pop diva Jennifer Lopez were on the show in Season 10 and 11, there were less disagreements among the judges and sometimes, the viewers got through an entire episode without seeing any of them trying to bite each other’s head off.

Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez were two of the nicest judges on Idol.

This time however, it’s different. There have been many stories about how the fights between Minaj and Carey got so bad that the producers had to step in to calm them down.

When the announcement was made that Minaj, Carey and country singer Keith Urban (who is fast becoming one of the most forgettable judges the show has ever had) will join Jackson (who is still unfortunately on the show) on the judging panel, people thought that it would be boring, but boy, are they eating their words now.

Minaj is proving to be quite a handful for the show’s producers, who some claim are entertaining the singer’s antics simply to bring in more viewers to help revive the show’s dwindling ratings. Nevertheless, what these producers are failing to understand is that they are allowing one of the biggest selling artistes in the world get terrorised by a little freak of nature. Minaj is loud, crude and definitely not one of the most politically correct person on earth … and she also looks a little scary, but that’s beside the point.

During one of their disagreements, Minaj kept yelling “Off with her head,” in Carey’s direction, which sounded more menacing than funny.

Not content with terrorising Carey in real life, Minaj also took to Twitter to state, “I guess it hurts 2 have the producers tell u to ur face that nicki is the best judge we’ve had since simon. Aww, poor u. Keep them lies cmn.”

Carey had earlier told Barbara Walters of The View that she “doesn’t feel comfortable emotionally,” on the show, which also prompted Minaj to say she wanted to “hit up Barbara.”

It doesn’t seem that Carey is enjoying her stint as a judge on the show so far and will definitely only take so much of the verbal abuse before she throws in the towel. For a multi-millionaire like Carey, the US$18mil (RM24mil) paycheck for being on the show won’t justify the kind of abuse she has to endure from a fellow judge.

And if anything, it seems as if Urban is also regretting his decision to be on the show after getting caught in the middle of the diva showdown week after week. Let’s hope that the producers will come to their senses and realise that the show’s ratings are not worth letting Carey experience another meltdown. Unless, of course, that’s their plan all along and want to capture the breakdown on camera as well …

Sharm says: Ugh, how long will it take for the American Idol producers to realise that the show is beyond salvation? It died the moment Simon left.