Idol Chatter & Voice Views

If you hadn’t heard, another reality competition is coming to TV.

The show is called “Summer Camp.” It will air on USA, debuting at 8 p.m. tonight (Thursday, July 11).

And it has a former Idol as a host.

Matt Rogers, host of the new USA Network show, Summer Camp. (USA Photo)

That would be Matt Rogers, who placed 11th back in Season 3 and has become reality TV host supreme since then.

He’s probably best known for hosting the Lifetime series “Coming Home,” featuring surprise reunions between men and women serving in the military and their families.

But he’s also host of of culinary reality series “Beat the Chefs” on GSN (Game Show Network) and previously hosted “There Goes the Neighborhood” on CBS.

Judging from the previews, “Summer Camp” will be considerably less poignant than “Coming Home.”

The idea is to take 16 young adults — many clearly picked for their looks — and throw them back into a summer camp type environment, where they’ll compete in “over-the-top” games for a grand prize of $250,000.

The contestants have names, but they’re also known by stereotypes. For instance, the gals include the flirt, the model, the pageant queen, the mean girl and the country girl. The guys include the class clown, the firefighter, the soldier, the cowboy and the sci-fi nerd.

In an interview yesterday with CBS in New York, Matt says we can expect drama, fireworks and hook-ups in addition to the competition.

“This show has the most unbelievable cast,” Matt said. “I’ve been hosting reality shows for nine years, and this cast is the best I’ve ever been a part of.”

Meaghan Cooper, the “flirt,” on Summer Camp. (USA Photo)

And Matt isn’t the show’s only Idol connection. The “flirt” is Meaghan Cooper, a 27-year-old Texan who made Hollywood on Idol back in Season 11. At the time, she was part of a rock duet called Shoc Adora. Now she’s being identified as a fitness model and country music artist.

Speaking of country music, Matt is making some of that too. He sang the theme to “Coming Home,” a song appropriately titled “I’m Coming Home.”

It’s featured on a four-track Rogers and Bos EP that you’ll find on iTunes. You can download one of the songs — “Roundup” — for free by heading to Matt’s website.