American Inventor gets re-invented

Simon Cowell’s American Inventor is getting an extreme makeover when it returns in June for a second season.

Former heavyweight champ and grill hawker George Foreman will show up as a brand new judge, as will former talk show host Pat Croce and Sara Blakely, the inventor of Spanx footless and Assets butt-slimming pantyhose (whose first brush with reality TV was as a contestant on Richard Branson‘s show).

Gone from the show that made inventor Janusz Liberkowski a household name are tough guy adman Ed Evangelista, weepy marketer and Allison Janney stand-in Mary Lou Quinlan, and Doug Hall, the know-it-all with the Hawaiian shirt and that ugly mole on his forearm (let’s hope he’s gotten that looked at). The only judge to stick around is the British guy, Peter Jones– and that’s because he’s one of the show’s executive producers (and its inventor).

What’s more, host Matt Gallant is being replaced by former E! News reporter (and the first African American male to host a reality show?) Nick Smith. And the show’s structure is being reinvented!The first six weeks will be shot on the road, with one finalist each from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Orlando and Houston. Week seven will be a two-hour episode, following the finalists as they build their prototypes, deliver them to the judges, and are narrowed down to three.

Viewers will choose the winner, who’ll get a million dollars and a chance to mass produce their invention.

Inventor returns to ABC on Wednesday, June 6th at 9 pm.

But will they improve the production values? Last season it was a folding table in a warehouse…

–Tabloid Baby