It’s been a few years since Mel B graced our screens during America’s Got Talent. As you may remember, back in 2019, she and Heidi Klum were replaced by Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough, with little reasoning as to why. While Heidi returned alongside Sofía Vergara, we haven't seen Mel B since she left. Fast-forward to 2025, and ahead of rejoining the judging panel for the show’s landmark 20th anniversary, which premiered on Tuesday, May 27, Mel B is revealing the real reason she left in the first place.
"I got kind of laid off and fired," she admitted to Craig Melvin during a May 14 sit-down on Today. "But yeah, I’m back now."
As for why she's back, it's pretty simple.
"You know, I thought, well, I love working with you guys,” she said, and her fellow AGT cast mates couldn’t agree more. "I love working with you," Howie Mandel echoed during the sit-down. "And we love you too, Mel," Terry Crews chimed in.
Apart from an enjoyable working bunch, Mel also said that the option to return to the show came at just the right time. "I mean, why not? It was perfect timing," she told Craig.
Meanwhile, in a statement to PEOPLE, Mel elaborated, sharing just how special this opportunity is to her. "I’m beyond thrilled to be back at AGT — not only is it the 20th anniversary of the show, but it’s also a real homecoming for me, and I couldn’t be happier or more excited to be back," she said. “So fasten your seatbelts, everyone, because I’m here, and I’m going to stir things up and be my usual loud, proud, Scary Spice self. This season is going to be unmissable!"
We can't wait to see it!
Rebecca Norris is a full-time freelance writer living in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Over the past 10+ years, she’s heavily covered a range of lifestyle topics, including travel, home, beauty, style, wellness, and celebrity news. She is a graduate of George Mason University, where she earned a B.A. in Media: Production, Consumption, and Critique, along with a minor in Electronic Journalism. When she's not writing, she can be found strolling with her Jack-Chi, Cash, sipping iced matcha lattes, indulging in delicious cuisine, perusing farmer’s markets and antique sales, collecting colored glass, getting lost within the pages of a book, and exploring new bucket-list cities.
