American Idol’s wholesale changes continues with the news that Nigel Lythgoe and his fellow producer Ken Warwick have both exited the show. In a twist, it turns out that the pair had a tiff with the show’s creator Simon Fuller.

“Both Nigel and Simon really clashed,” an insider told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column shortly before last season’s finale. “Ken and Nigel’s exit isn’t surprising…It’s hard for anyone involved in the production to get along with Fuller.” The parting has since been confirmed by The Wrap. The move comes in addition to judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson all leaving as well, with only Keith Urban awaiting his fate, these changes the result of a severe drop in ratings over the past series and with competition coming from NBC’s The Voice.

Commenting on the state of the program, Yahoo! Music Managing Editor Lyndsey Parker commented “It will return for at least a couple more seasons. Will ever be as big as it was? Honestly, no, I do not think so. ‘Idol’ no longer operates in a bubble. It operates in a saturated market, competing with ‘The Voice’ and many other shows, and even with a show on the same network, Simon Cowell's ‘X Factor,’ in a way.” Lythgoe and Warwick had been since the show since the beginning in 2002, though the former did leave in 2008 for two years.

Nigel Lythgoe
NIgel Lythgoe is on his way out of Idol

Nigel Lythgoe
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