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Sonia and Kyle team up for Australia's Got Talent shakeup
Seven has announced a surprise shakeup to Australia’s Got Talent in as the network makes a bid to revive the national talent show.
Sonia Kruger will be slipping into the judging chair, along with actress and model Olympia Valance, best known for her role on Neighbours.
Also joining the lineup in a guest judge capacity is shock jock Kyle Sandilands, who is doubtlessly intended to inject some controversial energy into the format.
The duo join existing judges Manu Fiedel and Shane Jacobsen, and ongoing host Ricki Lee Coulter.
The series has lost two of last year’s judges, the celebrity powerhouse Nicole Scherzinger and musical theatre legend Lucy Durack.
The new talent judging the talent may surprise some, given their diversion from the established roles of last year’s judges.
Between the four behind the panel, there is no professional singer, nor a full-time dancer with the new format favouring established media personalities.
New ‘Challengers and Champions’ format
It goes along with a brand new format for the show itself, this year’s Challengers and Champions set up.
Challengers and Champions will pit Aussie acts against previous fan-favourites from the series’ international versions.
Yep, we could see these guys:
Facing off with this guy:
Probably not given one is an X-Factor classic, but a girl can dream.
In all seriousness, the format is set to encourage Aussie talent to compete with established and successful acts from the series’ many international iterations.
“This promises to be the Olympics of talent where to be the best, you’ll have to beat the best,” Angus Ross Seven’s director of network programming says.
“It’s world-class competition with all the surprising and sometimes weird moments Aussie families have come to love from AGT.”
The talent series is broadcast in 58 countries around the world and is owned by creator Simon Cowell.
In 2014 it was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s most successful reality TV show, a title it holds to this day.
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