NBC’s new singing show, “The Voice,” will feature some former contestants from “American Idol,” The Post has learned.
“There are people who have been on a label, toured and done other competition shows before,” says producer Mark Burnett. “We wanted to be equal opportunity. Many people have tried over and over in their careers and never quite hit it.”
While Burnett isn’t naming names, reality-show blog joesplace.com has reported that “Idol” Season 2 contestant Frenchie Davis is among the contestants.
Davis, 31, was dismissed from “Idol” when topless photos of her surfaced on the Internet. The following year, she appeared in the Broadway production of “Rent.”
Recycling talent is not new, especially on high-stakes game shows.
Last month, 16-year-old Thia Megia, a 2009 contestant on “America’s Got Talent,” made it to the Top 11 of “American Idol.”
What is unique this time is that the 96 hopefuls who appear on camera were all hand-picked — in many cases recruited — by producers. Other shows, like “X Factor” and “Talent,” require participants to go through several rounds of auditions.
Reporters got a first look at the show — which debuts April 26 — last Friday.
A 15-minute clip shows celebrity judges Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Christina Aguilera fawning over the group of 20-something hopefuls.
At one point, Aguilera asks one country singer, “Can you take off your pants?”
The four judges open the show with a group rendition of the hit “Crazy,” from Green’s musical group Gnarls Barkley.
“When we shot that sequence, it was fun to be a fly on the wall . . . with the four musicians [trying to figure it out],” host Carson Daly revealed. “We probably only did three passes on that song.”
Burnett says he plans to include future performances by the judge quartet when the show begins live episodes in June.