Australian talent shows: Who's fronting which judging panel this year?

IT'S been a confusing few weeks for talent show fans, with rumours about judges jumping ship, off-shore stars being flown in and networks nabbing shows.

Talent shows

IT'S been a confusing few weeks for talent show fans, with rumours flying left, right and centre about exactly who's judging what.

We've heard stories of judges jumping ship to rival networks, international stars being flown in and networks nabbing shows.

But finally there may be some clarity on exactly who will be fronting the revamped reality show panels.

The latest round of announcements yesterday confirmed Kyle Sandilands has signed with Channel Nine as a judge on Australia's Got Talent, completing the new-look panel that includes Mel B, comedian Dawn French and singer Timomatic.

It was a risky decision by Nine, who poached the flailing show from Channel Seven for 2013. The radio shock jock is the only star to make the switch from the original panel on Seven.

Sharon Osbourne was initially strongly rumoured to be flying in as a judge, but has since decided to stay in the UK and join Simon Cowell on the British edition of The X Factor.

With Mel B having flown the coop over to AGT, Seven's The X Factor is believed to have snatched up Dannii Minogue instead (who sat on the AGT panel last year).

Seven tells news.com.au that they are yet to confirm their 2013 panel but what we do know is that Guy Sebastian is out, announcing yesterday that he will not be returning to the series.

It is rumoured that Ronan Keating and Natalie Bassingthwaighte will return to the panel, which just leaves one mystery member.

Meanwhile, Nine's The Voice is shaking up its panel this year, with Ricky Martin replacing Keith Urban. 

Martin will join Seal, Joel Madden and Delta Goodrem in the big red chairs.

The Voice mentors for this year are also a completely new group.

OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder replaces Darren Hayes, Aussie musician Ben Lee replaces Benji Madden, Jessica Mauboy replaced Megan Washington, and Sneaky Sound System's Connie Mitchell will replace outgoing Ricki-Lee.

With a few final spots yet to be locked in, the judging panel rat race has gone into overdrive. But does the somewhat incestuous pool of 'judging talent' mean that it's more of a shallow pond that networks have been forced to go fishing in?

It may be so, but one thing is for sure: Despite the sneaky coup from one network and clever poaching of another - we personally can't wait for the mid-year ratings war to kick into gear.