LOS ANGELES _ RuPaul Charles will never be Simon Cowell.
Cowell became infamous for his unabashed honesty as a judge on reality competition series such as "American Idol," "The X Factor" and "American's Got Talent." His brutal comments have sent many a hopeful home to re-evaluate their career choice.
RuPaul takes on a similar situation with the new CBS series "The World's Best," slated to debut Sunday after the network's Super Bowl telecast. The well-known host, actor, singer and performer joins Faith Hill and Drew Barrymore as the three American judges who will be helping pick a winner from competitors from around the world.
Don't look for RuPaul to go all Simon Cowell on the participants.
"I have a sense that people have had enough of the meanness," RuPaul says. "In the past two years, if something comes on television where I can sense people are going to be mean to one another, I cannot watch it. That's because there is so much of that going on in the world right now.
"I may be living in a pink cloud, perhaps, but I am 58 years old and I have seen a lot of nasty stuff. I don't want any more right now. Not by choice."
To be fair, unlike early seasons of "American Idol" where bad singers were fed to Cowell just to watch the slaughter, RuPaul and the other judges on "The World's Best" will never face that situation. Only acts that have shown great skill and success will get to step onto the stage.
"The World's Best" is hosted by Emmy Award winner and late-night talk show host James Corden. When all the smoke and dust clears, one performer will be going home with a $1 million prize.
The marks of the three American judges will be added to voting by 50 experts from 38 countries who make up the wall of the world of judges. Executive producer Alison Holloway stresses it's the panel of international judges and the selection of first-rate talent from around the world that are the biggest differences between "The World's Best" and other competition shows. Those also were the reasons RuPaul was willing to be a judge.
"This show represents the global promise that we were all promised as kids _ I grew up in the '60s and '70s _ as to what the world would be and how we would be interlinked. A lot of that has come true and a lot of it hasn't in our world," RuPaul says. "A lot of people are stuck in the 20th century and they don't want to move forward.
"This show represents that vision of a global world and I dig that. We are more similar than we are not. It was phenomenal to sit there and watch all these amazing people from around the world express themselves, and then to, of course, bond with all the judges, and judges from around the world."
Getting to a final winner means selecting from an eclectic group of performers that include acrobats, singers, magicians, martial arts experts and even a dog that can hypnotize people. This means the judges will have to weigh the abilities of very different performers against each other.
Judging is nothing new for RuPaul, especially through the series "RuPaul's Drag Race." RuPaul has found it easy to judge such diversity through a combination of skill and using his "emotional GPS."
"I also discuss it with the other judges," RuPaul says. "There are a lot of factors that go into making a decision. It's different every single time, but I always go with my emotional GPS. It's important to use that, especially in this kind of situation.
"I will say I always like when the performers on stage are adding love and emotion to what they are doing. I think that makes a difference with everything on this planet. When you add love and your heart to something, you got me."
Where things get just a little fuzzy is the scoring system used to advance participants.
With a smile, RuPaul says it all sounds like math and that's not a strong suit for the judge.
After its debut, "The World's Best" will move to its regular time slot of 8 p.m. Wednesdays.
