Rosie O'Donnell is making some serious demands. The comedienne is tapped to join Whoopi Goldberg as one of the new co-hosts on "The View" next fall and is reportedly demanding a say on who else gets a slot at the table.
According to Page Six, O'Donnell was offered a "one-year, seven-figure deal" to return to the daytime talk show. A source told the newspaper that the deal is not confirmed just yet but "is absolutely in progress."
O'Donnell's deal supposedly stipulates that she will appear on the show full-time and she gets "approval over offers to other co-hosts." The source told Page Six that the TV personality has demanded that no other reality stars land a spot on "The View."
Ever since Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd announced they would not be returning, producers have been on a desperate search to find replacements. So far, Goldberg is the only confirmed member of the cast; Barbara Walters announced her retirement in May and Elisabeth Hasselbeck left to join the show "Fox & Friends."
O'Donnell previously held a co-hosting gig on the ABC show but quit in 2007 after getting into a nasty fight with Hasselbeck.
"I didn't want to argue for a living," O'Donnell later told Oprah Winfrey about her abrupt exit. "It was not my show, and I didn't have the control that I was used to. And the executive producer and I did not gel."
It seems like this time O'Donnell is making sure she's in control before rejoining the show. A source told US Weekly that producers "aren't seriously auditioning anyone else until the deal is done, because Rosie will get a major say [in her co-hosts]."
It was also rumored that producers were after Ross Mathews, Laila Ali and "Bachelorette" star Andi Dorfman. According to TMZ, the show is also looking for a Latina and a conservative. Abby Huntsman and Margaret Hoover are reportedly the two being eyed for the gigs.
