sarah murdoch

After much speculation and a hotly anticipated announcement this morning via Fox8 and 2DayFM, Jennifer Hawkins has been announced as the new host of Australia's Next Top Model. The position went up for grabs almost a year ago when longtime host Sarah Murdoch left the show to take up a new role at the now defunct dancing series, Everybody Dance Now. Charlotte Dawson, Megan Gale, Elle Macpherson and Nicole Trunfio were just some of the names thrown into the hosting ring, though Project Runway host Megan Gale shot down rumours this morning by tweeting that she was "never a possibility." The eighth series of Australia's Next Top Model will air on Fox8 mid-2013, with auditions commencing in January.

Everybody Dance Now is no more. Poor ratings since the show’s debut two weekends ago has had viewers wondering about its fate — would it get the chop? Would it move to Eleven? What about the dancers? — but yesterday afternoon Network Ten announced that it had been axed. James Warburton, CEO, said in a statement that Network Ten had been “trying new formats and creating more programming options. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the Everybody Dance Now format right . . . clearly it has not struck a chord with viewers.” He made note of the “professionalism and commitment” of host Sarah Murdoch and ‘Dance Masters’ Kelly Rowland and Jason Derülo, who had been flown in from the US to give the show some added star power. The worst part is that while the format hadn’t worked, the dance talent did, and they worked hard, and now many of them won’t have the opportunity to perform. The cast and crew are also out of work. Did you watch Everybody Dance Now?

Photo courtesy of Network Ten

Sarah Murdoch is returning to TV this Sunday night when Everybody Dance Now premieres on Network Ten. The former Australia’s Next Top Model host and producer is taking the hosting reins again for the new show, an original Australian format, which sees dancers of all ages, styles and experience levels competing for a prize pool of $450,000. On hand to mentor the contestants are international stars Kelly Rowland and Jason Derülo, known as Dance Masters. We spoke to Sarah yesterday afternoon ahead of today’s first show taping (which will air on Sunday), where she shed light on the incredible talent we’ll see, her own dance experience, and which TV shows she loves at the moment.

What have you been doing today?
We’ve been going through everything — just blocking on the stage and rehearsing. The acts are rehearsing at the moment, which is really great, just going on the stage to work out where they are. It looks amazing. The stage is huge. It’s set up like an arena, like a colosseum. The audience sits in the round and they vote each winner.

It’s been a few years since we’ve had a dance competition show like this. What can you tell me is new and different about it compared to what we’ve seen before?
It’s open to all ages and all types of dance. When I say types of dance, obviously there’s the jazz, ballet and contemporary, hip-hop and all that sort of thing, but what’s been amazing is when you say, “OK, we want see all types of dance,” you will see stuff you have never seen before. Even Kelly Rowland was saying, “I’ve seen things I’ve never seen before.” We have circus performers who have props and have incorporated dance into them. Or even cultural mixes, like a hip-hop group of girls who do traditional African dance. [We have] tap dancers, rock groups. There’s a girl on pointe, actually, like a ballet tap group. It’s really cool that the dance acts have come up with really creative ways to showcase dance, but in ways that you’ve never imagined, culturally and in style.

More from Sarah when you keep reading.

We've been very curious to see Sarah Murdoch's next move following her departure as host of Australia's Next Top Model. Network Ten has just announced the popular TV presenter and model will host Everybody Dance Now, a new dance duel-style entertainment show set to air on the channel. She'll be joined by "Dance Masters", American singer Jason Derulo (who was once linked to Lara Bingle), and Destiny's Child star and chart-topping artist, Kelly Rowland. The hunt is also on for "Dance Captains" to help lead the dance acts, who are being sourced through an audition process that will wrap in Sydney today. Jason and Kelly will take teams consisting of duets, teams and solo performers through the battle rounds.

Sarah's a perfect choice for host, as it's a little known fact she's an ex-ballet dancer — she started dancing at age six — and is now an International Ambassador and member of the Board of Directors for The Australian Ballet. “Everybody Dance Now combines everything I love about dance. I am so thrilled to be joining TEN with this exciting new show, and together with Kelly and Jason, I look forward to discovering Australia’s most gifted and talented dance performers," says Sarah of her new TV role.

One to rival the fierce success of The Voice? We certainly hope so!

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Please don't let it be true! The Daily Telegraph reported this morning that, for the moment at least, there are no plans to put season seven of Australia's Next Top Model into production. Apparently the departure of host and co-producer Sarah Murdoch has left a hard-to-fill spot for Foxtel, with hopes that Miranda Kerr may step into Sarah's shoes looking ever more unlikely. Judge Charlotte Dawson said she was unaware of any details, telling The Sunday Telegraph "I'm the last to know — I read most of what is happening with this show in the papers." We're crossing our fingers and toes that they find someone, and fast, especially given the success of the 2011 series.