Ellen DeGeneres’ infamous talk show is coming to an end.
The TV host told The Hollywood Reporter that her upcoming series will be the last, as it’s not challenging her anymore.
"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 said.
According to the 63-year-old, the ending of the show has been several years in the making.
She informed staff that the upcoming season will be the show’s last yesterday, May 11, and said she is sitting down with Oprah Winfrey on The Ellen Degeneres Show tomorrow to discuss the news.
It will be the 19th series of the entertainment show that sees A-list celebrities take centre stage along with talented people and children who are discovered by Ellen on the internet.
The show, which began in 2003, saw many Irish celebrities, people and children over its 18 years.
Last July, former employees of the show told Buzzfeed that they experienced “racism, fear and intimidation” while working there.
Subsequently, three top producers were fired and an internal investigation took place.
Ellen addressed these accusations on the first episode of the 18th season, saying: “I learned that things happen here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously. And I want to say, I am so sorry to the people who were affected.”
When these allegations surfaced last year, Crystal Swing singer Derek Burke joined a growing number of celebrities rushing to lend their support to the celebrity presenter.
The Cork star famously appeared on Ellen’s show with his family, a mother/son/daughter trio, in 2010.
“From our perspective, we couldn’t have been looked after better and that is the honest truth,” Derek told the Sunday World at the time.
“They were as sound as a pound, everything like. They were really, really lovely, as in production-wise, and Ellen – not a bother with any of them.”
In 2018, the TV host revealed in an interview with The New York Times, that her wife Portia de Rossi wanted her to move on from the talk show, which sees her host 180 episodes a year.
However, Ellen decided to sign on for another three years and in total, she has hosted more than 3,000 shows with this number set to rise for the final season.