Paula Abdul may have left “American Idol,” but she can’t seem to get away from the hit reality show– as she films her new CBS dance competition series, “Live To Dance,” next door to her old haunting ground.
“What’s is embarrassing is I came out of the control room — I ran because I had to start getting ready [for the show] — and I go to open up my old dressing room door and it won’t open,” Paula told AccessHollywood.com’s Laura “Dish of Salt” Saltman, at a taping of “Live To Dance” on Wednesday. “I’m knocking and nobody’s answering and I go, ‘Guys!’ They came out from the other room and they go, ‘Uh, idiot, you’re knocking on your old dressing room.’
“It was habit,” Paula laughed. “It was crazy.”
While the singer-choreographer-producer has distanced herself from “Idol,” she maintains there won’t be any awkwardness when she runs into her old pals next door.
“It’s going to be like old home week,” she told Laura, of the imminent run-in. “I’m proud of the experience and honored and grateful, really, for the experience that I had on ‘American Idol.’
“I always say that that experience taught me to dig my heels in and really realize the strength that I have inside to hang in there,” she added.
Paula’s new show, “Live To Dance,” will air directly opposite “Idol,” but the 48-year-old former Laker Girl says she hasn’t had time to worry about ratings just yet.
“I’m working around the clock producing this show,” Paula told Laura. “I think it’s a blessing that all of us get to live in a place where reality competition shows in this genre thrive. I mean, back when I was trying to make a go out of it, there was one show and that was ‘Star Search’ and that was it.
“I was always like, ‘Mom, I’ve just got to get on ‘Star Search’,” she laughed.
In related news, Paula has chosen Travis Payne, famed choreographer of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” tour, as one of her judges on “Live To Dance.”
Travis stopped by Access Hollywood Live on Thursday and dished with Billy Bush and Kit Hoover about his first few weeks working as a judge with Paula.
“I have seen people that I know have immense potential and it’s our job as experts to bring it out of them and nurture it,” Travis told Billy and Kit of the auditions he’s seen thus far. “I can’t wait to see where we are in a few weeks from now.”
In addition to technical merit, Travis says the judges are looking for a dancer who can bring “the whole package.”
“Sometimes the best technical person is not always the most entertaining,” Travis said. “So, being able to find a mixture of the two, where you have the technique and the skill, and you still can commit and have passion and the presentation is perfect.”
See Paula and Travis on “Live To Dance” on Wednesday at 8 PM on CBS.
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