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Nigel Lythgoe Denies Firing Mary Murphy From ‘So You Think You Can Dance’

By Karen de Wilde
Published on: 11:57 PST, Jun 2, 2015

After Monday night’s premiere of season 12 of So You Think You Can Dance, executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe was apparently inundated with questions from viewers asking why he fired Mary Murphy, who had been with the dance competition since the very beginning, from the show. On Tuesday afternoon, Nigel posted a tweet in which he denied having anything to do with Mary’s departure.

Nigel tweeted that he didn’t fire Mary.

In response to Nigel’s tweet, some people pondered what really happened with Mary. While some said that Mary was annoying and that they’re glad she’s gone, others said that the show just isn’t the same without her.

The new season opened with Paula Abdul and Jason Derulo sitting beside Nigel Lythgoe as the judges. An E! Online article that asked people what they thought of the new judging panel showed that as of Tuesday evening, more people wanted Mary back, with 47 percent saying that they loved it and 52 percent saying they hated it. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, one media outlet’s recap of the premiere episode cheered Paula’s addition to the judging panel but remained skeptical of Jason’s presence.

In a statement to the media in mid-January, Fox, Dick Clark Productions, and 19 Entertainment announced the departure of Mary from the show but didn’t give an explanation for her departure.

“Mary has been a huge part of So You Think You Can Dance, from mentoring the dancers as a choreographer to inspiring fans as a judge. She will always be part of our Dance family and we wish her continued success.”

Mary herself released a statement that made clear that her contract wasn’t renewed.

“I’m saddened of course to be released from my contract. I’m very grateful and proud to have been part of such an extraordinary television show, So You Think You Can Dance, for 11 seasons. I’m sure there wasn’t a person watching that didn’t know I loved what I did!!”

So far, Mary Murphy, the self-dubbed “hot tamale train” conductor who most recently hosted the PBS series America’s Ballroom Challenge, has not commented on social media about Monday night’s premiere of So You Think You Can Dance. Perhaps she couldn’t bear to watch it?

Paula Abdul certainly seems to be loving her new role. She has been excitedly tweeting about the show’s premiere for days and tweeted throughout Monday night’s premiere show. Immediately prior to the premiere’s airing, Paula pumped her fans up for the episode.

Jason Derulo also got busy on social media during the So You Think You Can Dance premiere episode.

[Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images]

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