Palmer’s first episode (she’ll be featured in two total) aired on March 16, and fans had an overwhelmingly positive reaction. Many viewers felt she was a welcome addition to the panel and praised the fresh energy and insight she brought to the table. “Shes so fun and energetic i love it,” one Reddit user commented.
Someone replied, “Been a huge fan of Keke for a long time! She’s an absolute ray of sunshine every time I’ve seen her and to be honest I think she’s extremely underrated in terms of a Singer as she has got vocals.”
Disney/Eric McCandless
A lot of the commenters agreed with the original poster that Palmer could be a good replacement for Underwood on the show. “I’d much prefer Keke as a replacement. She’s a joy,” someone said, while another person guessed that they chose Palmer as a guest judge to “test” her for the job.
Another poster, who said they are an Underwood fan, added, “Carrie is objectively not a great judge, as she’s not a particularly interesting personality for television and also doesn’t really ever give actionable critiques. In her defense, neither are Luke and Lionel. But that doesn’t mean people can’t express when a guest judge blatantly does a better job. As a fan of the show since the first season, I perked up when I heard Keke point out to Jesse [Findling] that he started shaky because it’s so incredibly rare to hear the judges critique a contestant nowadays.”
We should note that the judges’ panel has permanently featured four celebrities in the past, although that has not been the case since the show moved over to ABC in 2018. Bryan and Richie were joined by Katy Perry for the first seven seasons on the new network, and Underwood replaced the “Teenage Dream” singer in 2025.
Do you think Palmer should join the panel permanently next season? Vote in the poll below and head to the comments section to weigh in on the debate about whether she or Underwood is the better judge.
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