The 40 contestants from around the globe won't be the only returning faces on the "America's Got Talent" ("AGT") spinoff series "Fantasy League." "AGT" regulars Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum will be joined on the Jan. 1, 2024 series premiere by Mel B (full name Melanie Janine Brown).
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The famed Spice Girl turned global pop star and television personality previously judged "AGT" for seasons 8 through 13 as well as the spinoff "AGT: Champions." She's filling the seat of Sofia Vergara, who'll return next summer for the main "AGT" series' 19th season.
During the most recent "AGT" season finale back in September, Vergara confirmed that she'll be back when the original series returns in the summer of 2024.
However, upon teasing new series "AGT: Fantasy League" on the same episode, host Terry Crews shared that Vergara would "not be able to join" her fellow judges before unveiling Mel B as her temporary replacement.
"I think I just had been knocking on the door for way too long, they were like, 'Okay, we will let her in, we will let her back,'" Mel B told "Extra". "I got asked. I thought, 'Yes, who wouldn't want to join this show?'"
For her new gig, Mel B will compete against her fellow judges as they lead teams of 10 in hopes that one of their contestants will win the show's $250,000 grand prize.
"Between us four judges, we all had to pick a straw out, so depending on how short or how long your draw was, you got to pick one of your teams first," Mel B told Glamour. "That was really interesting. Simon got the shortest draw, so he was always the last to pick. And this year, which is funny, I'm actually sitting next to him. In all the seven years I've done it before, I've never sat next to him. But it's been really lovely to be back in L.A. and hanging out with Heidi [Klum] again. We've been having our girly sleepovers at her house where the boys are not invited. It's been a really exciting time."
Read on for a refresher on Mel B's careers in music and television.
Spice Girls (1994- 2000)
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Mel B first rose to prominence as Scary Spice, one-fourth of the highest-grossing all-woman recording group of all time. The Spice Girls' first two albums —1996's Spice and 1997's Spice World— made Mel B, Melanie C (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) and Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) global celebrities. "Wannabe" and "Spice Up Your Life" reign as songs that define the era, and the group starred in its own Hollywood film (1997's "Spice World").
The group went on hiatus in December of 2000 so its members could focus on their solo careers. The quartet has reunited more than once, starting with 2007's Return of the Spice Girls tour. Her 2019 departure from "AGT" coincided with a Spice Girls tour.
In a 2023 interview with Glamour, Melanie B teased a "big project" from the Spice Girls that should be announced in 2024.
Solo Pop Stardom (2000- 2005)
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Mel B's first solo album, 2000's Hot, was released a month before the final Spice Girls album. Before that, Mel B and collaborator Missy Elliott topped the UK pop charts with 1998's "I Want You Back," a selection from the "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" soundtrack.
Hot's first two singles, 2000's "Tell Me" and 2001's "Feels So Good," reached the Top 5 of the UK's pop charts. The final single, 2001's "Lullaby" reached No. 13 and was dedicated to Mel B's daughter, Phoenix Chi Gulzar.
She changed pace in 2005, releasing the album LA State of Mind under her full name, Melanie Brown. Pop and R&B elements took a backseat to piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment on songs recorded in Mel B's kitchen. It's lone single, "Today," failed to crack the UK pop chart's Top 40.
Mel B returned to chart prominence in 2013 with the standalone single "For Once in My Life," a No. 2 hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
TV Competition Series Gigs (2008- Present)
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Mel B's prior run on "AGT" barely scapes the surface of her TV involvement over the past 15-plus years. In 2008, she was a presenter for that year's Miss Universe pageant. She filled that role again in 2013. She's since had two runs as a judge on "X Factor Australia." Both the "X Factor" and "AGT" franchises were the brainchildren of Cowell. Mel B also had a judging stint on "X Factor UK."
The former contestant on the American version of "Dancing With the Stars" (2007) was a presenter in 2012 on "Dancing With the Stars Australia." In addition, she's been a judge on "Project Runway" and the US and UK versions of "RuPaul's Drag Race." She's judged "The Masked Singer" in Australia and competed on the French, Spanish and UK versions of the series.
In 2023, she joined Vanessa Williams, Michelle Visage and Trixie Mattel on the judges panel for the drag queen singing competition series "Queen of the Universe."
