Nigel Lythgoe
Nigel Lythgoe (born 9 July 1949) is an English television producer, director, choreographer, and former dancer best known for executive producing reality competition series including Pop Idol, American Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance.[1][2]
Lythgoe began his career as a dancer with the Young Generation group and later transitioned into choreography and production, serving as head of light entertainment at London Weekend Television and choreographing the Royal Variety Performance.[1][3] In the early 2000s, he co-created Pop Idol in the UK, which spawned the American adaptation American Idol—a format that launched numerous music careers—and extended his influence to dance competitions with So You Think You Can Dance, where he also judged for 17 seasons until stepping down in January 2024 amid legal challenges.[4][5]
His professional achievements include producing over a dozen seasons of American Idol (excluding seasons 8 and 9) and innovating unscripted television formats that emphasized talent scouting and performance.[1] However, Lythgoe has faced multiple civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and battery, filed between December 2023 and March 2024 by singer Paula Abdul and three other women, claiming incidents spanning 2003 to 2015 during production of shows like American Idol and All American Girl.[6][7][8] Lythgoe has denied the allegations, describing them as "absurd" and "deeply offensive," and the suit filed by Abdul was settled unconditionally in December 2024 without admission of liability.[9][10][11]