It’s been one hell of a year for Kelly Rowland.
There was:
Nipplegate 2.0
Swaggerjacking accusations
Dismal album sales
Lots of the usual BeyButtKissing
But then, I’m sure you all remember the drama that surrounded Kelly’s brief run on the X Factor. She was a judge there and seemed to be well received by the audience but trouble arose with her co-judge Tulisa Constasomethingoranother, and she high-tailed it back to the US and claimed she was too sick to go back for a couple of days which led to Simon Cowell, the creator and producer, getting involved. Hot mess.
Then Matthew Knowles basically shaded Kelly saying she should stick to reality TV and that his daughter was too good for such trivial crap (but apparently not too good to fake a baby bump).
Well, Kelly seems to be taking that advice to heart from her former manager. She is all set to appear in a new dance show Down Under as a mentor.
Kelly, who appeared on the 2011 series of The X Factor on a judging panel with Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos and Louis Walsh, has officially defected to Australian series Everybody Dance Now.
The show, which will be broadcast on channel Ten, will launch with its inaugural season later this year, with live stages of the show taking place throughout the autumn.
Kelly will join Jason Derulo as mentors, while Sarah Murdoch, who currently presents Australia’s Next Top Model, is set to take up the role of host on the series.
Jason Gilkison, who was the choreographer on American reality series So You Think You Can Dance, has signed up to be creative director of the new show.
‘We are thrilled about Everybody Dance Now and our return to big event television,’ said David Mott, Ten’s chief programming officer, according to Rap-Up.
Jason Derulo has also signed up to be a mentor on Everybody Dance Now (Picture: Getty)‘Dynamic, creative, and inspiring, Sarah, Jason and Kelly are the perfect fit for this fantastic new format – only good things lie ahead,’ he continued.
Everybody Dance Now has no age limit and no judges, with the audience alone deciding which of the six acts featured in each episode deserves a $10,000 prize and place in the final. The winner receives $250,000.
Kelly left The X Factor after just one series as a judge earlier this year, saying that she wanted to focus on her ‘global commitments’ and she is believed to be filming a pilot for a US sitcom this summer.
Nicole Scherzinger replaces Kelly Rowland on this year’s X Factor (Picture: XposurePhotos.com)A spokesperson for Rowland said at the time: ‘After much speculation, we can officially confirm today that Kelly Rowland has decided not to return as a judge again for this year’s UK X Factor.
‘Global commitments coupled with the show’s increasing demands this year mean that, despite weeks of deliberation with the show, Kelly has not been able to agree a deal that fits into her autumn/winter schedule, so sadly cannot accept a place on the 2012 panel.’
Former X Factor USA judge Nicole Scherzinger will replace her in the new series of the Simon Cowell juggernaut, which is currently filming in the UK.
It seems like she’s found her niche and I hope this one works out better than the last one. I honestly think that it says a lot about the fact that with all that drama going on they did want Kelly back at the X-Factor enough to ask her to return. So they probably didn’t think she was at fault for her anything and that her “sickness” was justified.
And Kelly seems to be very popular in Europe as an artist. Her dance songs do really well over there. Which is why certain people jumped all on that train. Croatia though? Really?
I think Kelly could be very successful in the US market with better music and marketing. But I have the feeling she is not allowed to shine. However, I also feel she needs to woman up and reach for the stars and stop at nothing. I know a lot of people think that this is karma for the “bad seeds” co-sign, but I still kind of feel bad for her.