Black, Fergie Prep For Kids' Choice Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fergie has a new fetish: slime.
The glamorous Black Eyed Peas' frontwoman said she's become strangely curious -- and a little afraid -- of what the infamous goo will feel, smell and taste like at Saturday's 24th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award. She'll be donning a custom-made outfit for a kid-friendly medley with her fellow Peas, marking the group's first time at the slimy ceremony.
"We've always been on tour every year," lamented Fergie before the group's rehearsal Friday.
"My mom would call me and say, `You know you're nominated for Kids' Choice Awards.' I would watch the show on the Internet, and it would make me sad that we couldn't be there. This is a special moment for us to be able to come to this particular award show and rock it."
Fergie and the Peas are also up for one of the fan-favorite ceremony's blimp-shaped trophies in the favorite music group category against musical siblings Jonas Brothers, country crooners Lady Antebellum and boy band Big Time Rush, who are also slated to perform at the University of Southern California's Galen Center, along with Willow Smith and Train.
More than 10,000 screaming kids, as well as a few adults, are anticipated at Saturday's ceremony, which will feature Justin Timberlake receiving The Big Help humanitarian award and Jack Black hosting for the third time. The zany star of such films as "Kung Fu Panda" and "Gulliver's Travels" promised "a huge opening number" and several costume changes.
"I'm going to break the record for amounts of costume changes in one night," boasted Black, who was sporting a simple red T-shirt and black shorts during rehearsals Friday afternoon. "I'm going to put Madonna and Cher to shame because I'm going to be changing in the middle of presentations. I'm going to try to have a different outfit every 38 seconds."
Presenters -- and possible slimees -- include Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Josh Duhamel, Sofia Vergara, Jane Lynch and Miranda Cosgrove. Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon's president of development and original programming, admitted celebs are usually given a head's up if they're due for a sliming but promised that no one can truly anticipate the green goop.
"Everybody knows if they're going to be slimed, but nobody exactly knows what it's going to feel like or how they're going to respond to it," teased Cohn. "There's still a giant sense of surprise. No one rehearses being slimed. You can't really imagine the feeling of that coldness dripping through your clothes and into every pore of your body."
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