In the latest twist in the court case underway in Sydney, it’s emerged that Melissa Doyle was once considered a replacement for Mel B as a co-host for Dancing with the Stars.
According to the Daily Telegraph, “it was during the cross-examination of another witness, Channel 7 production and rights manager Therese Hegarty that the option of using Doyle was raised in court, but email evidence confirmed that (head of production Brad) Lyons had deemed the show did not fit Doyle’s schedule.”
On February 26 Lyons wrote to manager Stephen Belafonte saying, ”We want to be clear that should Mel become available to work in Australia during the relevant period, it is with the Seven Network.”
But a confused Belafonte told the court,”I said, ‘How are we being released if we’re not doing a deal?’”
He also replacement judges in Sugar Ray singer Mark McGrath and rapper Lil Kim.
He also said Seven had been desperate to keep news of Mel B’s departure a secret after Nine had secured Ricky Martin on The Voice.
