Netflix Renews “Queer Eye,” Starring Karamo Brown, for Ninth Season

Karamo Brown is keepin’ his Eye on the prize…

Netflix has renewed Queer Eye, starring the 43-year-old half-Cuban American television host, reality television personality, author, actor and activist, for a ninth season.

Karamo BrownThe ninth season will switch locations to Las Vegas after Season 8 will be once again set in New Orleans. Season 8 will premiere on January 24, 2024.

In addition to Brown, Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski and Tan France are expected to return for Season 9. Bobby Berk announced his departure from the series earlier in the day.

Queer Eye is produced by Scout Productions and ITV Entertainment.

Brown serves as the culture expert on Queer Eye.

He began hosting an eponymous talk show titled Karamo for NBCUniversal in September 2022.

Brie & Nikki Bella to Host Amazon’s Social Dating Competition Series “Twin Love”

Brie and Nikki Bella are twinning in love.

Amazon has ordered a new competition series Twin Love, hosted by the 39-year-old half-Mexican American WWE stars and twin sisters.

Brie & Nikki BellaAmazon has greenlit the series from ITV Entertainment. It will air on Prime Video and in the U.S. and UK and premiere simultaneously on free streamer Freevee.

Twin Love is a social dating experiment that explores the love lives of identical twins. Ten sets of twins will be split up and placed into two houses of identical casts, where they’ll begin a unique and compelling search for love.

The series will discover if their inherent similarities extend to their romantic desires. When separated from their twin brothers and sisters—some for the first time ever—will they pursue the same identical partners? Or will their choices be dramatically different?

The series, which will launch this summer, is based on a Dutch format created by ITV Studios Netherlands; the latest format to come out of the country responsible for Big Brother, The Voice and The Traitors.

Twin Love is a social dating experience like no other, blending the specificity of being a twin—someone born, quite literally, with a biological soulmate—with the universality of being single and searching for lasting romantic love,” said Lauren Anderson, head of AVOD Original Content and Unscripted Programming, Amazon Studios.

Brie and Nikki, the former wrestling duo, have starred in a number of reality series including E!’s hit Total Divas and Total Bellas.  

Fergie to Host Fox’s New Singing Competition “The Four: Battle for Stardom”

It’s a case of Connect Four for Fergie

The 42-year-old part-Mexican American singer and Black Eyed Peas member will host Fox’s new primetime singing competition show The Four: Battle for Stardom, the six-episode series that will air at 8:00 pm Thursdays beginning January 4.

Fergie

“This is a unique and modern show format that I believe will set the standard for the next generation of singing competition series on TV,” said Fergie, who has hosted the Los Angeles segments of ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve for the past few years. “I am looking forward to being by the contestants’ sides during what could be the most important performances of their lives. Along with these amazing panelists whom I know and love, I hope my experiences as a solo artist and as a member of the Black Eyed Peas can help guide them in their quest to make it in the music industry.”

Created by Armoza Formats and produced by ITV Entertainment in association with Armoza, The Four also features expert panelists Sean “Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled, singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor and record label exec Charlie Walk.

The format works backwards from typical competition shows: Four finalists, chosen from their auditions, will try to defend their coveted spots on the stage, as they are challenged by new singers determined to replace them. Each week, if any of the four are outperformed as determined by a panel of judges, they’ll go home and their challengers will take their place.

The singer who is the last standing at the end of the competition will see the panel of industry experts become key players on their team. The elite group will then guide the winner’s career to help make him or her a breakout star.

“Fergie is a genuine superstar,” said Rob Wade, President of Alternative Programming and Specials at Fox Broadcasting Company. “She’s fierce, she’s a force in her own right, and she knows exactly what these singers are going through. So who better than her to help guide them as they fight their way to the finish?”

The Four will beat to air ABC’s reboot of former Fox mega hit American Idol, which will launch in March and air on Sundays. Fox’s response to Idol 2.0 also will air while NBC’s rival singing competition The Voice is on hiatus, on one of the nights the original aired on Fox toward the end of its run.