UPDATE: Deadline is now reporting that Paula just closed her deal with X Factor and is getting ready for tomorrow’s first two auditions tapings at 1 PM and 6 PM.
The X Factor drama is beginning early. Deadline is reporting:
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I’ve just learned that Paula Abdul has been asked to show up for the judges panel for his U.S. version of The X Factor in Los Angeles on Sunday. But here’s the thing: I’m told her deal still isn’t done yet but is in “final negotiations”. Reps are working all day and probably all night to get it done before tomorrow’s 1 PM and 6 PM tapings of auditions with wannabe contestants when the full judge’s panel assembles for the first time at USC’s Galen Center.
But will she really show up? No way her reps will let her go if that deal isn’t done, ” an insider just told me.
Cowell told me recently he wants a known female performer and a young Hollywood actor to co-host. His initial picks were 32-year-old former head Pussycat Doll and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars standout Nicole Scherzinger, always his first choice to host, and Corbin Bleu, the 22-year-old African-American co-star of the High School Musical franchise. With both talents able to sing and dance, the possibilities for their hosting seemed myriad. But, according to an insider, at their first meeting, “Nicole walked in and saw Corbin and his baby face and asked, ‘What are you, 15?’ And then she walked out.” So, just like that, Bleu was nixed.
Who knows how much of this is true, although I tend to believe the Paula stuff, because she has a history of being tough to deal with.
