FOX’s ‘The Four’ Signs on Judges for New Reality Competition

Since FOX lost out on the American Idol revival, the network had to come up with a new singing competition, The Four. With the show expected to debut in January, the show finally has its judges panel all set.

On Thursday, TMZ reported that Sean “Diddy” Combs and DJ Khaled will fill the “music mogul” and “producer” roles on the panel. Charlie Walk, who has worked with The Weeknd, Ariana Grande and others, will fill the “music industry executive” role.

The “performer” slot was offered to Fergie, Bebe Rexha and Meghan Trainor, TMZ reports.

The Four: Battle for Stardom is expected to premiere in mid-season and focuses on hip-hop artists.

In October, Deadline reported that iHeartRadio will support the winner with its “On The Verge” program, which has featured Sam Smith and Fifth Harmony before they became superstars, as well as Nick Jonas’ solo material. The program helps new artists get exposure on iHeartRadio stations throughout the country.

The Four was created by Armoza Formats and is based on an Israeli show called The Final Four. FOX announced the show over the summer.

In an August interview with Variety, FOX reality TV chief Rob Wade said he wasn’t concerned about the show being overshadowed by the Idol revival or NBC’s long-running The Voice.

“This is the first thing that came through the door that I genuinely was like, ‘Oh, this is really good,’” Wade said. “You don’t often get that, I’m learning, as you take a hundred pitches. It wasn’t, ‘Oh, we need a singing show.’ It could have been a dance show that I liked or a variety show that I liked or a dating show that I liked.”

Wade said he expected the series’ first season to run between four and eight episodes.

FOX bills the show as a “groundbreaking new singing competition series that challenges performers to fight for their life to be the best.”