On the Lot: Why the Host Left the FOX Series

As the ratings for FOX’s reality show On the Lot continue to slide downward, the network seems to be committed to finishing the competition. One who saw the writing on the wall early on was Chelsea Handler, the original host. The buzz was that Handler left the reality show to work on her new E! series Chelsea Lately. Apparently, there’s more to the story.

Handler admits “I quit that show because I smelled the disaster happening before it did. Absolutely God’s honest truth. I feel that was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Somebody said, ‘You can’t quit a Steven Spielberg show, you can’t quit a Mark Burnett production.’ Watch me, watch me quit… It was one [show] or the other, and after a while I realized I wasn’t in a show where I was really going to be able to be funny or have a good time.”

There are rumors that it was actually the producers’ idea to make the host change though her replacement, Adrianna Costa, hasn’t garnered much praise. The filmmaker competition is slated to finish its first (and likely only) season on August 14, 2007. Stay tuned!