‘The Four’ Is The ‘Hunger Games’ Of Singing Competition Series, Says Host Fergie

Fox’s new The Four is the Hunger Games of singing competition series, host Fergie told TV critics Thursday.

Panelist Sean “Diddy” Combs, however, likened it to Game of Thrones; “You get to challenge, and if you want to cut anybody’s head off” that’s how the cookie crumbles, he explained today during the show’s TCA panel in Pasadena. He also described it as being “like a fight at the school.”

“Other shows don’t have that combative nature,” Combs boasted, hours before its launch on the network.

Premiering at 8 tonight, The Four works backward from typical competition shows, starting with four finalists, chosen from auditions, who have to defend their spots on the stage as they are challenged by new singers determined to replace them. Combs, producer DJ Khaled, singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor and record label exec Charlie Walk make up the panel of judges who determine each week of any of the four is outperformed, sending them home.

“It’s crushing,” Fergie described, calling it “not the most warm and fuzzy” competition series.

Unlike Fox’s previous singing competition, American Idol, which started by designating a set pool of competitors, on The Four “you don’t know who’s coming around” to knock you out of the running, EP David Friedman noted. In that, he said, the show more accurately reflects the peril of the industry.

“It’s one thing to get to the top; it’s another thing to stay there,” Friedman said.

The Four will beat to air ABC’s reboot of former Fox mega hit American Idol, which launches in March and will air on Sundays. Fox’s response to Idol 2.0 also will air while NBC’s rival singing competition The Voice is on hiatus.

Here’s a sneak peek at The Four: