Fox needs to have all four judges in place ASAP, as the season is supposed to start shooting Tuesday in Charleston, N.C. Of course, the network isn’t commenting at the moment.
If this report is true, Kelly and Paulina will take the place of Britney Spears and L.A. Reid, both of whom left the show. Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato will return for the coming season, airing this fall.
Sources say that Fox plans to move away from casting superstars like Britney, Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, in favor of somewhat lesser-known artists who already have experience on similar series. Kelly was a judge on the eighth season of the UK version of The X Factor, and Paulina served as a judge on La Voz…Mexico. She also has been tapped as a judge for Telemundo's La Voz Kids. It only makes sense to have judges that actually have experience judging!
An official announcement is expected later today, according to Simon, who tweeted this weekend: "We start x factor auditions in charleston on Tuesday. The new panel will be announced Monday. This is going to be an interesting show!"
Now, I don't know how reliable E! is with this (I'm still not entirely believing their recent report that Beyonce is pregnant..."multiple sources" who?). But if Kelly and Paulina are, in fact, joining the show, that's a great look for them! I always wondered why Kelly wouldn't just host the X Factor USA since she's been on the UK version. Fox does tend to go for the big stars who either don't have singing experience (*side eye Nicki*) or don't give enough advice as they should in spite of their experience (*side eye Britney and Mariah*). Guess we'll find out for sure today!
Image via Charley Gallay/Getty Images
