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When “American Idol” was working on assembling their new team of judges earlier this summer, Toby Keith‘s name was thrown into the mix. Shortly after, Toby announced that he was not working on a deal with the hit show. The superstar recently revealed that he didn’t hesitate when he turned them down.

“It’s a great big TV show. Lucrative deal. Lot of money, but it’s a lot of time, and it took me five seconds,” Toby said.

With the amount of time the show takes up, Toby was worried that he couldn’t concentrate on his music, including his upcoming album release, Hope On The Rocks. “I know three weeks in that I’d be going, ‘I can’t believe I did this. I am so mad at myself. I knew better.’ And so, instead of even thinking about it or letting somebody down, [I allowed] them to move on and get who they want. Let’s just move on, and I just turned it down quick.”

This isn’t the first time the “I Like Girls That Drink Beer” singer has been offered a spot on television. He has had a number of offers over the years for his own sitcom, and they all fall through due to the same reason. ”I’ve been offered a sitcom over the last 10 years by every major network, and we’ve talked to ‘em on several occasions, and by the time you get to the end of the conversation, and the ‘We gonna go forward or not?’ it ends up being too much time.”

There will be a hint of Country on the panel, however. Keith Urban has taken a spot as a judge, along with Idol alum Randy Jackson, and newcomers Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey. Auditions for next season have already begun.

Blog source: www.CountryMusicIsLove.com