shilpa the new host-article

Veejay-turned-anchor Sophie Chaudhary has been thrown out of SAB's reality show, Fame X. The hostess has been replaced by Shilpa Saklani. Said a source in the production house, "Sophie had problems with the production house, right from the beginning of the show. Now the channel is replacing her with Shilpa Saklani."

Vikas Behl, business head of SAB said, "We have decided to replace her with Shilpa because she can connect with the kids well. Moreover, she is a more popular face on television, which we think will take her a long way."

Vikas added, "Sophie's unprofessional behaviour on the sets was irritating. Unit members were unhappy with her high-handed attitude. Moreover, Sophie failed to connect with the kids and the audience. The production house went through a lot of problems because of her, therefore we decided to replace her. Last year, Mandira Bedi did a pretty good job on the show but this time we did not approach Mandira because she is already doing cricket shows. So, we approached Sophie - which turned out to be a wrong decision on our part."

When contacted for her version of the story, Sophie said, "I am no longer part of Fame X. All I can say is that I am very upset with all the allegations they made against me. I am sure they wanted to generate some controversies to garner TRPs. They were unprofessional as far as timings were concerned. Palash Sen, Daler Mehndi, Ganesh Hegde, Soumya Rao, Cyrus Broacha - everyone was upset with my decision to quit. All said and done, I will miss my team especially the kids in the academy, who called me 'sweetheart'."

Does she think Shilpa Saklani is a suitable replacement? Sophie said, "They wanted a hostess who could match up to the standards of American Idol. And I did my best. I have not interacted with Shilpa, but I wish her all the best."

When contacted, Shilpa said, €œI have no clue about the past. But I find this offer a good change from the typical soaps on television. I am sure I will enjoy doing the show.€

got it frm mumbai mirror...

cheers

emma