Amanda Holden was celebrating last week, after securing an impressive £500k deal with Netflix. She is reportedly lined up to host the streaming giant’s new dating show called Cheaters: Unfinished Business, which she has described as her “dream job”.
The news comes shortly after it was announced that Holly Willoughby, 43, would host Bear Grylls’ new Netflix show Bear Hunt earning her £1million.
Now, an insider close to Amanda tells Closer that joining the Netflix parade is part of the 53-year-old presenter’s grand plan to take over Hollywood and make a name for herself in the US.
We’re told, “Bagging a show with Netflix is the start of Amanda’s long-term plan to work in the US. Last year, her agent helped her get a job working as a reporter on [US show] Inside Edition, covering King Charles’ coronation, and it was her first step towards her dream of making it in America. Her pals have been joking that she’ll be taking Holly on at this rate as they’re both doing similar projects!”
There’s no doubt that a Netflix deal will help Amanda’s ambitions to crack the States – plus it has the added consequence of rubbing Sharon Osbourne up the wrong way after their recent spat over comments Sharon and Louis Walsh made about Simon Cowell on Celebrity Big Brother. Amanda said she “hated seeing certain people on a reality show dissing Simon”, while Sharon spat back, “Unlike you, the brand of Sharon Osbourne is known worldwide.”
If Cheaters: Unfinished Business is a hit, it could make Amanda a global name. And she is certainly optimistic, saying, “I always wanted to host a show about love and relationships – and this is it. I’m absolutely thrilled to be part of it.”
As for her showdown with Sharon, she said, “I’d like to think we’ll bump into each other again one day soon and have a laugh. I was protecting a friend… It really was a storm in a teacup.”
We’re told keeping Simon on side is all part of Amanda’s plan too. The source adds, “Amanda’s dream job is to become a judge on America’s Got Talent, which Simon produces. She visited the set in LA with her daughter Lexi last year and spent time with Simon and the other judges, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara.”
As Closer has reported, Amanda – who’s spent the past six months house-hunting in the US – would love to be the next Kris Jenner and have her own reality show with her daughters, Lexi, 18, and Hollie, 11.
“She sees Lexi becoming the next big international supermodel like Kendall Jenner and thinks Hollie could be a Hollywood actress,” the source reveals.
“Amanda is hugely ambitious and would do anything to raise her profile in the US.”