Ellen DeGeneres announced she is ending her talk show.
The talk show host and comedian told the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that she will end the long-running Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2022, after 19 seasons, more than 3,000 episodes, and a flurry of toxic workplace allegations.
"When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun, as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore," she told the outlet.
Sources tell Page Six that her slot may be filled by singer Kelly Clarkson, whose own talk show airs after DeGeneres’ 3 p.m. spot.
The show has been a major fixture of the TV landscape throughout its run and has even inspired a number of spinoffs such as Ellen’s Game of Games, The Masked Dancer, Family Game Fight, and Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways.
The move to end the series is not altogether unsurprising, as DeGeneres’ current contract ends in 2022.
“I was going to stop after season 16,” DeGeneres told The Hollywood Reporter. “That was going to be my last season and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I’d sign for maybe for one. They were saying there was no way to sign for one. ‘We can’t do that with the affiliates and the stations need more of a commitment.’ So, we [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last. That was the plan all along.”
According to Nielsen's ratings, The Ellen DeGeneres Show lost over 1 million viewers over the course of the show’s current season.
