Kara DioGuardi is still shocked that Paula Abdul has quit American Idol after eight seasons.

“I can’t get over it. I’m completely shocked,” she said on Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show Friday. “It’s such a loss for the show, such a loss for the contestants. She’s definitely the heart of the panel.”

“The kind of heart she treated the contestants with she treated me with last year,” said DioGuardi, who added that she was “scared” joining the show last season. “She was so kind to me and made me feel immediately like part of the panel.”

DioGuardi added that she hopes Abdul “will reconsider” her decision to leave.

“I’ve left her a lot of messages. I talked to her last week,” DioGuardi said. “I haven’t spoken to her this week.”

DioGuardi shot down speculation that she was hired last season as an insurance policy against Abdul in case she leaves.

“The way I’m understanding it is that it was her choice to leave,” DioGuardi said of Abdul. “I never was here to replace her. It would be impossible to replace Paula Abdul. She’s an incredible talent. She is somebody who helped make the show as big as it is. How could you ever replace that?”

“If anything, she was really somebody who helped me because it was awkward at times being the fourth person,” she added.

DioGuardi – who is in Denver Friday to begin auditions – said she is excited to return to the show alongside Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson for a second season, calling Idol “an incredible show.”

Said the new judge, “Last year, it was tough at times. Being the new kid, you get beat up a bit. I’m hoping this year that people are more accepting.”

On Thursday, Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice said producers are currently looking for a fourth judge to replace Abdul. (Katy Perry and Victoria Beckham are among the guest judges who have signed on.)

Abdul – who left show because she reportedly she didn’t get her desired $20 million deal – isn’t sweating the fact that she is out of a job.

“At this point, there are so many wonderful things that are being offered to me,” Abdul told the Associated Press Thursday. “And I got to take a deep breath, sleep a little … and go through everything.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Guessing which of the judges will be back on American Idol next season has become a popular game.

And yeah, we’re having trouble keeping track of the rumors, reports and whispers, too.

However, we can tell ya that Kara DioGuardi will be back for season nine of the hit reality show…

“Her deal is done. There are no ifs, ands or buts,” a source said. “Done. She will be back.”

No surprise, but the source reports that DioGuardi’s new deal doesn’t even come close to what the other judges are getting or, in Paula Abdul’s case, asking for.

DioGuardi is set to start shooting a new season of auditions in the next week or so. Reps for DioGuardi and the show declined to comment.

Even if Ms. Abdul is still hammering out a deal, we have a feeling all will be worked out in the end and all four judges will return.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Kara DioGuardi’s new husband may have to face the music with the American Idol judge after she sees Star’s exclusive photos of him getting really up close and personal with a beautiful young blonde — just three days before their wedding!

General contractor Mike McCuddy was feeling no pain, sources say, during his boozy July 2 bachelor party at two bars in Orono, Maine.

Mike, who once taught art at Orono High School, put the moves on a former student, surgical assistant and aspiring model Eve Dana, 21, when they crossed paths at Margaritas.

“He was pretty drunk on beer and shots of liquor, and when Eve congratulated him on his upcoming wedding to Kara, he just said, ‘Yeah, thanks’ — then asked her and her friends to join his group at their table,” an eyewitness tells Star.

After Mike pulled out a chair for Eve next to his, “he started touching her shoulder as he made small talk about living in the Hollywood Hills,” says the eyewitness. “Then one of her friends asked them to pose for a picture together, and he suddenly swept Eve up in his arms!”

Mike, 34, got even friskier later when they were standing at the bar. “They were posing for another picture, and Mike quickly leaned over and planted a big, wet kiss on the side of Eve’s face. She laughed, but she seemed uncomfortable and told him, ‘Hey! You’re taken!’”

Source, Fame Pictures

American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi wed teacher-turned-general contractor Mike McCuddy on July 5 at 12:30 in the afternoon in Prospect Harbor, Maine.

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter wore a Vera Wang gown for the small ceremony.

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The couple, who met when Mike, 34, built the house next to Kara’s in Maine, got engaged in December.

They exchanged vows at the United Methodist Church, across the street from her house, in front of about 30 guests. “I feel great. What was most unbelievable about the experience was when I looked out at the church and saw all these people that were so important to me and Mike, who were there for us. It was pretty powerful. I was very emotional and I’m not somebody who breaks down and cries,” Kara, 38, tells In Touch exclusively, adding that the weather even behaved. “It’s been raining in Maine for 60 days. The only day that was nice was yesterday!”

Credit: In Touch Weekly/Justine Ungaro Studios

Pictured: Fergie, Shanna Moakler, Jordana Brewster, Cheryl Burke, Brooke Burns, Lauren Conrad, Rachel Leigh Cook, Kara DioGuardi, Eliza Dushku, Jon Hamm and girlfriend, Paris Hilton and Doug Reinhart, Kardashians, Holly Madison, Tila Tequila, Jerry Charlie O’Connell and girlfriend Sarah, Deanna Pappas, Stephanie Pratt,  Melissa Rycroft and boyfriend Tye Strickland!

Bauer Griffin