Singer lobbies for a position on the panel of upcoming show

Jan 13, 2010 15:53 GMT  ·  By

The other day, with Simon Cowell’s announcement that the ninth season of American Idol would be his last, the popular television show started living what many refer to as its last days as a television hit. However, fans should not despair as Cowell has something else up his sleeve, namely a US version of the UK-made X Factor. Kelly Rowland, for one, is extremely interested in the latter, from what ContactMusic is saying.

The moment news of the upcoming show, believed to start airing in 2011, broke in the media, the question of who will be the four or five judges on the panel was on everyone’s lips. So far, it is believed two chairs will go to Cowell himself and ex-AI fixture Paula Abdul. If she has her way and her plea falls on the right ears, former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland could be the third judge.

“The X Factor is an amazing show and Simon knows that all he has to do is call me. I love Simon because he’s so honest. When I watch it, everything he says I agree with. If you’re going to do something, you have to do it right. So when we see an upcoming artist, you either see potential or you don’t see anything at all. It’s important to be completely open and honest with them,” Rowland says when asked whether she’d like to be offered a position as a judge on the upcoming show.

Cowell has yet to respond to Rowland’s public plea or, for that matter, to comment in any way on the upcoming show, all details of which are kept well under wraps for obvious reasons, of course. However, until something official comes out, we’re bound to hear more rumors – like the one we were telling you about the other day that had it that Cowell had gotten Paula as judge on the new X Factor, on a salary believed to be of $4.5 million for an indeterminate period.

“Sorry, Ryan and Randy! There have been loud whisperings that Paula has signed a $4.5 million contract to appear on the US version of Simon Cowell’s X Factor!!!! Cowell, who announced his departure from American Idol after the upcoming season’s close to start production on The X Factor America, allegedly flew [Abdul] out to the UK to meet the X Factor production team!” gossip blogger Perez Hilton was saying the other day, citing ongoing reports, as we also told you at the time.