Entertainment

Turnabout is fair play

Fox is taking the dating-show genre for a spin.

In “The Choice,” premiering June 7 with host Cat Deeley, four (male) celebrity bachelors will sit in rotating chairs with their backs to potential dates — relying on the women’s voices to choose their potential love interests.

“I’ve always liked the blind-date idea and … there hasn’t been an in-studio dating show in over 40 years, since ‘The Dating Game,’ which, in essence was [like] a blind date,” says Fox reality guru Mike Darnell.

Fox hasn’t yet announced its male celebrity contestants; “The Choice” will, however, feature an episode in which four celebrity female bachelorettes choose male dates.

“We’ve already booked 20 men and four female bachelorette celebrities,” says Darnell. “We’ve got 24 celebrities ready to go — from sports, music, TV and even reality stars.”

“The Choice” will unfold in three rounds. In the initial “Blind Round,” the bachelors will pull their “love handle” when they like what they hear — spinning them around to face the women they’ve chosen (each bachelor will choose three women).

“The chairs are much bigger than barbers chairs and have the ‘love handle’ in the middle,” Darnell says. “They’re like big versions of Capt. Kirk’s chair in the original ‘Star Trek.’ ”

In the “Speed Choice” round, each woman has 15 seconds to convince her potential suitor to choose her.

And, in the final round, Deeley will pose a “challenge question” to each of the women remaining in the contest.

“The last round is like a beauty pageant, where the girls come out one at a time and answer a final question,” Darnell says.

“The woman picked by the celebrity will go on a fantasy date that night.”