A source close to the show tells EW that Jessica Simpson has met with American Idol producers about joining the show’s judging panel. “I’m not sure whether her people approached Idol, or if it was the other way around,” said the source. It is also reported that Simpson is one of many candidates who’ve been considered as an Idol judge when the show returns in January 2011.
Former Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is set to return to Idol for its tenth season and went on record last spring saying he was in favor for an entire new panel of judges for better ratings for Fox. The network could be looking for more than a Simon Cowell replacement, who left Idol at the end of the ninth season in order to launch a U.S.-based version of his popular British series, The X Factor.
