It’s official: FOX has confirmed that Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger and British TV personality Steve Jones have been tipped to host the hotly-awaited US adaptation of The X Factor, premiering this fall.
The deal to bring Jones aboard was finalized late Saturday night, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jones reportedly was down to the wire competing for The X Factor job against High School Musical star Corbin Bleu and Latin superstar Enrique Iglesias. Though he’s relatively unknown Stateside, Jones is a live TV show host across the pond and his lent his talents to T4, a popular UK music series and As Seen on TV, a BBC One celebrity panel quiz show. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that no one had any idea who Ryan Seacrest was when he was tapped to emcee American Idol back in 2002. The Welsh-born celeb, 34, is also a former model.
Serving as judges on the show will be Simon Cowell, Antonio “LA” Reid, and Cheryl Cole, another little-unknown transplant from England. Cole is member of the British pop girl band Girls Aloud and a big star at home, where she has been a judge on the UK version of X Factor. Paula Abdul is also in talks to join the show as a judge as a fourth judge, but red tape surrounding her deal with CBS (where she hosted the reportedly-cancelled Live to Dance earlier this year) could torpedo the deal.
The X Factor, offering a $5 million prize and a recording contract for the winner, debuts on FOX this September.
