“I am gonna be the new judge on American Idol.”

Ellen Degeneres announced on her show that she’ll be the fourth judge in the popular tv show American Idol, officially replacing the post vacated by Paula Abdul.

The announcement made during the Ellen Degeneres Show was well received by her fans with a loud applause and a standing ovation.

“It’s so exciting for me and we’ve been dealing this for a couple of weeks and I have been dying to tell you and it’s been so hard to keep it a secret and we just finally got the okay,” she said.  “Im so excited and this will be so much fun.”

A devout American Idol fan, she revealed that she “had never missed a single episode.” Ellen said that she’ll be the “people’s point of view” as she will be judging not “on a technical and critical way” but will represent the voice of the millions of fans who sit at home and watch the tv show.  “I’m just like you and just watch it. I’m not looking at it from a producer’s mind, I’m looking at it as a person who’s going to buy the music. So hopefully, I’m gonna be the voice of what we’re all doing at home.

On the future of her talk show, Ellen revealed that she’ll continue to do the popular daytime show.

Ellen will be joining American Idol judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi in the Fox’s new season premiere in January 2010.