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Sonia Kruger and Kyle Sandilands join Seven’s Australia’s Got Talent judging panel

Seven has announced the line-up for its revitalised Australia’s Got Talent format, Challengers and Champions.

Ricki-Lee Coulter will return as host, as will judges My Kitchen Rules’ Manu Feildel and actor Shane Jacobsen. Joining them will be new Seven recruit Sonia Kruger, actress and model Olympia Valance, and guest judge Kyle Sandilands.

The show will screen later this year on Seven

Sandilands last appeared on Ten’s Trial By Kyle, which was commissioned after a run at Pilot Week. There has not yet been confirmation if it will return in 2020.

Kruger, meanwhile, defected from Nine and was initially announced as host of Holey Moley (at the time known as Mega Mini Golf). Instead, she will take on the hosting role for Seven’s revived Big Brother, and now also join AGT.

In a bid to spice up its programming, Seven has tried a number of spins on its existing formats including My Kitchen Rules creating a ‘The Rivals’ format. House Rules will return as House Rules: High Stakes, a “game-changing” format, which will see contestants take on a high-rise building.

Thus far, My Kitchen Rules: The Rivals has failed to find the audience of its predecessor, hovering at or around the 450,000 to 500,000 overnight metro viewer mark. Last night, it had 482,000 metro viewers.

The new AGT format will see Australian entertainment acts going head to head with previous fan-favourites from international iterations of the series.

Seven’s director of network programming, Angus Ross, said: “This promises to be the Olympics of talent where to be the best, you’ll have to beat the best. It’s world-class competition with all the surprising and sometimes weird moments Aussie families have come to love from AGT.”

Fremantle Australia director of unscripted, Jonathon Summerhayes, added: “We’re thrilled to be partnering again with Seven to make the greatest entertainment show on the planet. The huge success of the acts on Australia’s Got Talent resonates around the world, with more than 800m video views on social media.”

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