Paula Abdul: "We couldn't let Matt Giraud go" from American Idol

Paula Abdul: "We couldn't let Matt Giraud go" from American Idol

Paula Abdul, the American Idol judge, has no regrets about  saving contestant Matt Giraud on Wednesday's shocking show.

Abdul said on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show Thursday. "I said, 'No way! What's your problem?'", when he sang an encore of Bryan Adams' "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman", "Simon was pulling my dress to make me sit down,"

Abdul said Cowell had "trepidation" about using the judges one-time power to save Giraud from elimination after viewers voted him off.

"For a minute there, I thought we were going to have to duke it out," she said. "We couldn't let Matt go."

"It was so frustrating and nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time," she added.

When Cowell told Giraud he was safe, the 23-year-old piano player from Kalamazoo, Mich. cried in relief as the other contestants hugged him.

"Wasn't it amazing?" Abdul recalled of the moment. "The entire sound stage started clapping and changing 'Save, save!' It was almost like a finale, a sporting event. It was so exciting."

Despite the excitement, Cowell didn't seem to think Giraud should celebrate too much. "I don't see that you have really any chance of winning," he told him.

"That's such a great thing to say?" Abdul sarcastically quipped.

Asked if Cowell's remarks could actually help Giraud in the end (because viewers may feel sorry for him), Abdul said, "It can work either way."

During the interview, Abdul also revealed that Cowell recently made a request to have better lighting on him during the show.

"It's absolutely true," she said.

To show how vain Cowell can he, she then brought up Susan Boyle, the YouTube Scottish singing sensation from Britain's Got Talent TV show.

"He's not speaking about the woman," Abdul said. "He's saying, 'Didn't I look good in [the video]?'"