Britney Spears is reportedly out at “The X Factor” after one season — because she just wasn’t crazy enough.
Spears, who earned $15 million to judge the second season of Simon Cowell’s Fox show, “will get the boot” because Cowell “wanted crazy Britney, but he got boring Britney,” a source told Us Weekly, referring to Spears’ public meltdowns in years past.
If true, Spears’ exit will leave “The X Factor” two judges short. Record exec L.A. Reid announced last month he’s leaving the show after two seasons to focus on running Epic Records.
Demi Lovato and Cowell are the show’s other judges.
(Lovato, like Spears, joined the show last season.)
According to the Us Weekly report, Cowell and company aren’t happy with the return on their $15 million investment in Spears. “They paid all that for her to say ‘amazing’ and offer half-claps,” a source told Us Weekly.
“No one has discussed next year’s judging panel yet — any reports otherwise are complete speculation,” an “X Factor” spokesperson said in a statement released yesterday.
Cowell was non-committal when asked recently about Spears returning. “I don’t know yet, to be honest with you,” he told E! News. “I haven’t had the conversation with her whether she’d want to [come back next season, or] what other commitments she’s got.”
Cowell did say that he “thinks” he’d like to see Spears back on the show. “Yeah, I think I do, yeah,” he said.
If Spears leaves, it will only add to the drama surrounding Cowell’s series.
Cowell, who left “American Idol” to launch “The X Factor” — based on his British hit — fired original judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, along with show host Steve Jones, after the show’s first season averaged a disappointing 12.4 million viewers (far from the 20 million Cowell predicted).
Viewership for “The X Factor” slipped to about 9.6 million viewers each week in its second season, which ended Dec. 20.
Fox officials had no comment yesterday when contacted by The Post.