Simon Cowell lines up Mabel to be a judge on his new game show Walk The Line
SHE may warn people not to call her up, but we can reveal that Mabel has been letting Simon Cowell's calls through the net.
The Mad Love singer is in talks to be a judge on the mogul’s upcoming ITV musical game show, Walk The Line.
It’s a huge gig for the Brit Award-winning songstress, who appeared on Love Island this summer, performing in the TV villa for contestants.
She’s set to sit alongside Simon, Craig David and potentially a fourth judge on the panel for the series, due to air later this year.
The show is being hosted by Maya Jama and has a £500,000 prize pot.
Walk The Line has been described as a “musical version” of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in front of a panel.
It comes after ratings dwindled for ITV juggernaut X Factor and its last regular series went out in 2018.
The final attracted 5.3million viewers compared with 17.2million in 2010.
Most read in The Sun
A well-placed industry insider tells us: “Mabel is somebody the producers have been in touch with for a while now. They think she would bring something really fresh to the panel.
“There have been initial discussions, but no final decision has been made yet.
“Bagging a hot star like Mabel is a real coup for the series.”
The star, who is the daughter of singer Neneh Cherry, isn’t afraid to share her opinions.
In a recent interview she said: “My generation, and the generations to come are so switched on. Greta Thunberg! What a hero.
“What stresses me out is that millions of us can feel things are unfair yet we’re still being ignored.
“We have to keep shouting out the bulls**t. That’s what I’ve been taught to do — never shut up, never stop fighting.”
We reckon she’d be a great addition to the cast.
Rita's comeback rumours
A YEAR on from breaking lockdown rules for her 30th birthday bash, we hear Rita Ora is making a music comeback and could be back in the UK sooner rather than later.
The star, posing on Instagram in a sparkly top, has spent most of the year working Down Under, where she appeared as a judge on The Voice Australia and started dating Kiwi movie director Taika Waititi.
More recently she has based herself in LA.
A source tells us: “Rita is keen to come back to Britain soon and is looking at new opportunities.”
Ed and Eminem in tale of the tapes
ED SHEERAN has revealed his unlikely friendship with rapper Eminem was helped by a mutual love of cassette tapes.
The pair have worked on three songs together and now have a “cool pen-pal thing” going, according to Ed.
He said: “I collect cassettes and I’ve got Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder and they are quite difficult to find.
“The only person I know who collects the same is Eminem.
“We worked together back in 2017 and did two more songs in 2019.
“He collects cassettes, that’s his thing. He loves collecting. He is avid at going to find them.
“We have started having this, it’s like a very cool pen-pal thing. I got a message the other day about an LL Cool J cassette.
"He said, ‘This is the cassette which made me want to start rapping’. I sent him Van Morrison and I will send him David Gray’s White Ladder next.”
Ed was speaking on Later . . . With Jools Holland last night. He will release his latest album next week – a day before Adele's 30.
He insisted he has no problem going head-to-head in the charts, though his money is on Adele coming out on top.
Ed said: “Adele has her record coming out the same time as me. Also, Coldplay have just released, and Elton John and ABBA. I think Adele’s is going to be the biggest one of the year.
“It is an amazing thing for the UK music scene.”
Nadine's 'devastation' over Sarah while filming
NADINE COYLE’S TV co-star Nicky Byrne has spoken about how she was left devastated on the set of her new show Last Singer Standing after bandmate Sarah Harding passed away during filming.
The pair were on set in Ireland when Nadine got the news last month.
Westlife singer Nicky said: “It was a difficult week filming, especially for Nadine. Sarah sadly passed away while we were recording and Nadine [left] was obviously devastated. It was such a sad time. Nadine was unbelievable, though. It was so tough for her but she was so professional.
“It was one of those times when everyone tried to give her space to grieve but at the same time be there for her.
“Everyone rallied around her. I don’t know how she did it . . . a real trouper.”
Kourtney and Travis look Vicious
KOURTNEY Kardashian and her fiancé Travis Barker look truly Vicious in this black-and-white Halloween snap.
The duo embraced punk as they dressed up as late Sex Pistols rocker Sid Vicious and his tragic girlfriend Nancy Spungen, with Kourtney writing: “Till death do us part.”
BLINK-182 drummer Travis wrote underneath: “Our love will never dieeee.”
Sid and Nancy, both heavy drug users, were at the centre of a scandal said to have “killed” punk in 1978, when Nancy was found stabbed to death in New York’s Chelsea Hotel.
Sid was charged with her murder but died of an overdose before facing trial.
Claire never GoT naked
THE Crown star Claire Foy turned down a lead role in Game Of Thrones because she refused to take her clothes off.
The actress, who played The Queen in the Netflix series, refused the gig on the HBO show because it made her feel uncomfortable.
Claire said: “I didn’t want to go any further with that because of the whole nudity situation.”
It comes after GoT fave Emilia Clarke, AKA Daenerys Targaryen, admitted she felt pressured into doing nude scenes in the show.
Emilia said: “I’m more savvy now with what I am OK doing.”
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Meanwhile, Claire admitted she thought The Crown would flop when she auditioned in 2016.
She told the Happy Sad Confused podcast: “I remember thinking, ‘Who’s going to watch this?’”
This week who we'd...
Snog
Marry
Avoid
