Arab Idol judges' slagging match

Lebanese TV superstar Ragheb Alama has slammed his Arab Idol co-judge Ahlam as being an unknown outside of the Gulf. In an interview in Arabic woman's weekly Sayidaty magazine, Alama said she knew there were “some issues regarding her [Ahlam’s] personality” and went on to say that as soon as the stars traveled outside the region, Ahlam’s “fame diminished.” Judges get catty The two Arabic singers have had their fair share of tiffs , on and off Arab Idol, in the past with Ahlam taking to her Twitter account to air their grievances. Ahlam has also claimed in recent interviews that Ragheb is not really the head judge. In response to this most recent attack, Ragheb said: “I am the head of the jury, whether she likes it or not, end of discussion." He claimed Ahlam’s lack of English meant she hadn’t fully understood the term. “She tried to get philosophical on air once, in a language she doesn't master - she should go check out the meaning first.” Third judge Hasan Al Shafei has so far managed to escape Ragheb’s wrath, even eliciting some compliments from the TV star: “Generally speaking he [Al Shafei] wasn’t a bad character on the show”, he acknowledged, “although I felt that Ahlam had too much of an influence on his opinion.” The next season of the show is set to start.