Ex-'Idol' judge cracks jokes but admits to Hot 97 she hated her time on the Fox show.

It's been nearly six months since the finale of season 12 of "American Idol," but apparently the Fox singing competition still is a sore spot for former judge Mariah Carey.

"Honestly, I hated it," Carey told Hot 97's Angie Martinez on her New York City radio show.

In video from the interview posted on Tuesday (November 12), Carey went on to explain that she was the first one to sign on to the "Idol" judges' panel after Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler left at the end of season 11. (The pop diva reportedly earned $17 million for her season 12 work.) "Honestly, I thought it was going to be a three-person panel. They gave me a nice dangling monetary moment and I was like, 'OK ... Randy Jackson will be there' — you know he used to play bass for me — 'This isn't a big deal, this will be nothing.' "

Of course, things turned out a little differently. The three-person panel turned into four as Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban also signed on to judge alongside Carey and Jackson, and soon after, sparks started to fly between the two divas, escalating in a highly publicized fight during a taping of the show.

Throughout the season, Minaj, who once collaborated with Mariah on her track "Up out My Face," said she tried to exercise "self-control." But according to Carey, the environment on set was often heated.

"It was like hell going to work every day in hell with Satan," Carey laughed, before admitting, "I'm just playing; it didn't affect me that much." The singer added that although she "was disappointed," she "loved the contestants."

The ex-judge complained that "Idol" producers, though, sometimes had ulterior motives for not advancing certain contestants. "It was disappointing when they would for, political reasons, not put people through," Carey said.

Mariah Carey - "The Art Of Letting Go (Audio)"
Now, the pop diva's focus is back on music. Earlier this week, she released her latest single, "The Art of Letting Go," which is also the title of her 11th studio album, tentatively due for an early 2014 release.

She told Martinez, "I'm thinking February ... because I like the Valentine's Day things, especially the love songs."