Randy Jackson, the last (original) man standing at American Idol, announced today, May 9, 2013, that he’s leaving the reality singing competition after season 12.

Randy Jackson Quit ‘American Idol’… Avoiding Firing Squad?

After dismal 12th season ratings, it seems that Mr. Jackson decided it was finally time to jump ship. One might argue that a wiser man would’ve gotten out long ago, back when the other original judges, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell left (those two cats bounced in 2009 and 2010, respectively), but some people just refuse to throw in the towel; preferring, instead, to beat a dead horse (should we alert PETA to this animal cruelty?).

Or maybe he just needed the paycheck…

So why did he finally quit after 12 long seasons? Maybe he wanted to beat the AI execs to the punch, what with rumors swirling that American Idol producers are planning to fire all of the judges after season 12, and all.

Randy Jackson Through The Years

Randy was the last original judge left on American Idol — meaning he’s been through a lot of judge change-ups over the years. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

‘American Idol’ Judges Season 1-7:

Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and Paula Abdul

‘American Idol’ Judges Season 8:

Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Kara DioGuardi

‘American Idol’ Judges Season 9:

Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen DeGeneres

‘American Idol’ Judges Season 10-11:

Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler

‘American Idol’ Judges Season 12:

Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban

And through it all, only one other thing remained consistent: Ryan Seacrest (we’ll call him Ol’ Faithful).

What Will Randy Do After Leaving ‘AI’?

What will Randy do now? Who the heck knows. Get fat again, maybe? We can only hope.

More Randy Jackson ‘American Idol’ News:

• Randy Jackson Quit American Idol — Judge confirms Exit Amid Report Producers Plan To Fire All Four Judges — NY Daily News
• ‘American Idol’ Ratings Hit Crazy Low — EW.com