Nicole Scherzinger has been crushing the game since her start as the lead of the hit girl group, The Pussycat Dolls.
After a massively successful career under the spotlight, Nicole found herself as a judge on several reality talent series, including her most recent gig on The Masked Singer. Well, prior to guessing the secret identities of celebs, Nicole sat alongside Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and L.A Reid on the hit show, The X Factor.
Despite bringing her expertise to the series, Nicole found herself in quite the pickle when she made a decision that led viewers to turn against her. So, what really happened that led to one of the most gut-wrenching X Factor moments? Let's find out!
Did Nicole Make A Mistake?
Nicole Scherzinger is known for many things from her voice, beauty, all the way to her poise, however, the singer is also known for one of the most shocking X Factor moments, ever!
The series, which originated in the United Kingdom, traveled overseas to American television screens in 2011 when Simon Cowell decided the U.S needed yet another talent competition show.
Despite its success, the series ran for only 3 seasons, giving rise to big names such as Fifth Harmony, Alex & Sierra, and Restless Road, to name a few. While all eyes were on the talent, it appears as if Nicole found a way to steal the show, in the worst way possible.
During her reign as a lead judge in the series' first season, Nicole Scherzinger found herself under scrutiny after being accused of sending fan favorite, Rachel Crow home. Well, it seems as if Rachel wasn't so much a fan fav considering she received the lowest number of votes, leading to her elimination.
Although Rachels' shocking departure was fair, fans turned on Nicole as she could have totally kept Rachel Crow safe, however, decided not to.
The show, which had a bottom two each week, allowed judges to save a contestant in the event of a tie or send it to deadlock, which would have America's votes counted and make the final decision.
Rachel, who found herself in the bottom for the first time, was up against Marcus Canty, who was in the bottom for the third time now. Well, when it came down to a tie, all eyes were on Nicole who had to decide to either save one of the two contestants or leave the decision to America.
After a long inner battle, an emotional Nicole claimed that she simply couldn't send anyone home herself, and had no choice but to send it to deadlock. Upon reading the vote count, host Steve Jones announced that Rachel would be leaving, leading Crow to collapse into a pool of tears on-stage.
The crowd began booing Nicole for opting out of doing what a judge is meant to do, make tough decisions. Scherzinger later revealed that she was under the impression that Marcus would have been the one to go, considering he'd been in the bottom twice before.
Things went south for Nicole following the quarter-finals, leading fans of the show to send in death threats and calling for her to be fired. Simon Cowell immediately stepped in to defend Nicole, saying she is "not a vindictive person," in an effort to diffuse the situation.
Nicole did not return to the series for its second or third season, and while she has yet to confirm why viewers are certain that the response from her unfavorable decision sent her over the edge.