Heidi Klum Is Returning to 'AGT: The Champions' After Taking a Season Off

From Good Housekeeping

• America's Got Talent judges Heidi Klum and Mel B decided to leave the show after the spinoff America's Got Talent: The Champions aired in early 2019. Only Heidi returned to judge the 2020 edition of Champions and season 15 of the show.

• Julianne Hough and Gabrielle Union took over as new judges in season 14. Both were let go from the NBC talent show in late November.

• Alesha Dixon then replaced Mel B on the panel for Champions season 2.

• In AGT season 15, Sofía Vergara will be judging the competition in place of Alesha.

Season 14 of America's Got Talent welcomed new judges Julianne Hough and Gabrielle Union and said goodbye to Mel B and Heidi Klum. Less than a year later though, AGT called up Heidi again to be part of season 2 of America's Got Talent: The Champions and season 15 of the summer series. Now, Heidi is back in her middle chair alongside newcomer Sofía Vergara and returning judges Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel.

All this switching around with the judges begs two obvious questions: Why did Heidi and Mel B decide to bow out after AGT: The Champions aired in 2019? Moreover, why did Heidi come back?

Why did Heidi Klum leave AGT following Champions season 1?

Let's start with Heidi. Though the supermodel never declared why she decided to leave the talent show after hosting for six years, a "source" told Entertainment Tonight that it had to do with NBC wanting to "change things up."

"It was a network decision. The show does well because it has no problem adding new people and making changes," the source said, adding that Heidi and Mel B also had some major projects coming up.

For Heidi, one of those projects included working on an Amazon Prime Video show with Tim Gunn called Making the Cut. The show wrapped up filming in the summer of 2019 and is currently available to watch on the streaming service.

Apart from Making the Cut, Heidi was plenty busy hosting Germany's Next Top Model and judging on the German show Queen of Drags.

After the finale of AGT: The Champions in February 2019, Heidi tweeted about how thankful she was for the "incredible experience" working for AGT for six years. Safe to say, she left on good terms, which likely explains, in part, why she ultimately came back.

"It feels so good to be back and everyone has been so amazing," Heidi told Entertainment Tonight ahead of the start of AGT: The Champions season 2. "You know, there were welcome signs everywhere, the whole audience was chanting my name. I was like, 'Oh my God.' I was going beet red."

Okay, now what about Mel B leaving AGT?

Like Heidi, Mel had been judging since 2013, so it makes sense that she was ready for a new project.

In the summer of 2019, Mel traveled across the U.K. for the Spice Girls reunion tour. After that, The Daily Mail reported that the singer headed back to Leeds, England (where she's originally from) to spend time with her family. Since then, Mel has secured a judging gig on the U.K.-based TV show Celebrity Juice. According to IMDB, she is set to be a voice actress in the 2021 animated movie Blazing Samurai.

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