Former American Idol judge Mariah Carey made headlines earlier this week when she talked about how much she hated being on the show during a radio interview. Harry Connick Jr., one of the new judges for the upcoming season, made it clear on his Twitter page that his experience on the show has been quite different from Carey’s so far.

“Honestly, I hated it,” Carey told Hot 97 when asked about her experience on Idol. “I thought it was going to be a three-person panel. They gave me a nice dangling monetary moment, and I was just like, ‘Okay. Randy Jackson will be there; I’ve known him forever. He used to play bass for me. Like, this isn’t a big deal. This will be nothing.’ But it wasn’t that. It was like going to work every day in hell with Satan.”

Carey didn’t specify who she meant when she said Satan, but anyone who watched an episode of Idol last season knows all too well that she is referring to co-judge Nicki Minaj. Carey and Minaj’s on-screen spats were talked about more than the contestants, which hurt the show and likely contributed to the huge drop in ratings. The judging panel with Minaj and Carey was so bad that it only lasted for one season, which is a good thing because the two ladies would have probably come to blows had they spent much more time together.

While it’s understandable why Carey feels the way she does about her Idol experience, Harry Connick Jr. did jump to the show’s defense on Twitter yesterday:

hey @MariahCarey – must've been hard to judge in hell… @AmericanIdol XIII is heaven! @JLo @KeithUrban @RyanSeacrest @YO_RANDYJACKSON

— Harry Connick, Jr. (@HarryConnickJR) November 15, 2013

Carey never responded back, but lest anyone think Connick Jr. was being rude to Carey, he followed up that tweet with another:

btw, i LOVE @MariahCarey !!! no hate for that sweet lady – i just feel bad that she didn't have what we have – the best @AmericanIdol ever!

— Harry Connick, Jr. (@HarryConnickJR) November 15, 2013

The new judging panel Connick Jr. is on will include Jennifer Lopez, who is returning after a season off, plus Keith Urban will return as the only judge to come back from last season’s panel. From everything the judges have said so far, it sounds like the chemistry is great this time around, which should make for a much more enjoyable Idol experience in Season 13. The new season of American Idol premieres on January 15.

Check out Carey’s full interview below.

[Image via YouTube]