On Monday’s (Mar 20) NBCU Summer Press Day Jennifer Lopez was on hand to promote NBC’s World of Dance competition reality show. Not only is she executive producing the series but is also judging alongside Derek Hough and Ne-Yo.
The panel discussed the format of the series, debuting May 8, which pits dancers in all configurations and ages for a $1 million dollar grand prize.
World of Dance Contestant List Revealed (Some You’ll Recognize!)
Naturally, questions came up regarding American Idol, which NBC is rumored to be in talks to reboot.
Asked if her multiple roles on World of Dance would interfere with her participation in an American Idol reboot. The former Idol judge answered, “I haven’t heard anything about that. So I know nothing about that.” The Deadline report characterized her answer as “well-prep-edly,” as if she were expecting the question. Seems like she knows something, but can’t comment…yet.
If the Idol reboot at NBC really is a thing, one wonders how Jlo would find the time to join the panel. Her NBC Ryan Seacrest produced procedural, Shades of Blue has been renewed for a third season, there’s WoD, and she performs in Las Vegas on the regular. She has commented in past interviewers that she’d love to be involved if American Idol ever came back to television.
As far as World of Dance is concerned, here are few tidbits from the panel:
On the judges chemistry:
“Having done [these shows], I know that is key that you have judges knowledgeable on what they’re judging on and they have a lot to offer and they have their own personalities but also a chemistry with one another…we definitely have that,” Lopez said. “We were lucky. I was so fortunate in the projects I’ve been doing over the past years, and to pull together my dream team…these were three first choices. It was like, ‘Can we get Ne-Yo? Can we get Derek Hough? Can we get Jenna Dewan Tatum?’ ”
However, you can also expect some tension between the judges. “There are definitely disagreements…that’s also what makes it interesting,” Hough said. “There were little mini battles happening.”
On Jlo’s early years as a dancer:
“I ate one slice of pizza each day — no breakfast, no lunch. I would eat it at 6 p.m. so it would hold me over until the next day. That’s how I lived, once I moved out of my mom’s house, and I did that for a couple of years before I got my first big job, and I wouldn’t change it for the world,”
The one million dollar cash prize is the biggest ever awarded on a reality dance competition.
