ITV desperate to sign Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall as a judge on Stars In Their Eyes reboot
SHE became one of the BBC’s golden girls after making her telly debut on Drag Race UK and then as a coach on Little Mix’s own show, The Search.
But the Beeb has some fierce competition coming its way — as I can reveal ITV is keen to get some Jade Thirlwall magic to sprinkle over its upcoming reboot of Stars In Their Eyes, called Starstruck.
Insiders tell me executives are desperate to snap up the Little Mix singer from the BBC, and have vowed to move heaven and earth to persuade her to jump on board as a judge.
My mole said: “Jade has been earmarked as the perfect third judge for Starstruck, and ITV has her in its sights.
“After seeing her on Drag Race UK, and then as a coach on the band’s own show, The Search, the bosses think she is made for the role and they now want to make her one of ITV’s stars.
“Jade is funny, witty and is a seriously talented musician.
“So it’s not hard to see why they are so keen to get her to move away from the Beeb. She would be joining Sheridan Smith and Adam Lambert on the panel, whose job it is to judge the contestants’ performances on stage.
“ITV is preparing to approach Jade and has said it would be prepared to pay good money to get her on board.
“But Jade is incredibly busy and she is due to go on tour with her bandmates Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards in May, when filming is expected to start.
“It is so keen that there have even been discussions at ITV about shifting the dates to see if that could persuade her to come on board.
“Jade is its No1 target right now and those behind Starstruck would love to be able to seal the deal
“If she doesn’t bite, it’s back to the drawing board over Christmas.”
Having met the girls from Little Mix a couple of times over the years, I would say that Jade is definitely set for even bigger things.
Cheeky stunt
THE Grand Tour’s Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are never likely to do things by halves.
Their latest special, called A Massive Hunt, is released today.
To celebrate, the trio met on London’s Southbank to switch on Christmas lights that spelled out the rude-sounding title of the Amazon Prime Video show.
The “H” on the lights broke, prompting James to say: “People will think it’s meant to say ‘massive shunt’ and think Hammond’s been in it . . . or maybe runt, again Hammond! Massive Runt!”
They will continue on their adventures in a series of feature-length specials, and are back on four wheels hunting for treasure in Madagascar.
Jeremy said: “I’m asked every 25 seconds, ‘When is the new special out?’”
And after getting stuck in traffic driving across the capital to switch on the lights, he added: “Well that was worth the f nine-hour trip across all of London.”
Merry Christmas to you too, chaps.
Hairy start for Laura's romance
PREGNANT newlywed Laura Whitmore didn’t always fancy husband Iain Stirling.
In fact, when the presenter first clapped eyes on comic Iain’s haircut, she thought it was so ugly that he looked like a “different species” and snubbed him.
On Gaby Roslin’s podcast, Love Island host Laura, above with Iain, said:
“It was an ITV2 show called Fake Reaction that Matt Edmondson was hosting.
“I was on Joe Swash’s team and he was on Ellie Taylor’s team. But I don’t think we really talked – well, he said I ignored him.
“When we did that show together he did look very different.”
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