10 Best Reality-Show Judges: We Rank Them!

We can all get on the hot-tamale train with Mary Murphy and her mates at the judges' table here.

Yes, The Donald is always the final judge and he's the only constant on the show, but there was just something about those early years when these two corporate-world players made their way on camera to judge wannabes like Omarosa.

It's always fun to try to guess what they are thinking as the models parade down the catwalk. Even more fun is hearing what they have to say.

Not to take anything away from Howie Mandel, but there was a special brand of wacky (intentional and not) with this trio.

Each member of this panel was so incredibly versed in the technical aspects of music that it enabled them to give really insight commentary and as a result, you didn't hear a lot of repeated and rehashed critiques. Ben Folds gave probably the most intelligent and technically specific musical feedback of any singing-competition judge out there.

The combined weight of their culinary knowledge is significant... and while watching, you can never, ever forget that. So pretentious, so incredible.

Sure, there's a lot of spectacle to the show, and the idea of putting a bunch of artists together like this could have gone horribly awry. But what makes it work was that they all had such dynamic, fun onscreen personalities, and even better was the lovely surprise in Blake Shelton.

This trio gets all 10s from us thanks to their attention to detail and ability to embrace the spectacle of it all.

Nigel just oozes sex appeal, Janice was oh so sassy, and Nolé had the most adorable dog named Empress Minnie. Plus, Janice could out-diva host Tyra Banks — a feat in itself.

What can we say, dawg? For us, Randy, Paula, and Simon were the gold standard of judges and showed how important that blend of personalities really is. When they were good, they were great!