The dancer, who was briefly married to Jennifer Lopez, will return to Los Angeles and his wife Kelly, who's expecting the couple's first child. Then it's back to New Zealand later this year to record the semifinal shows. Judd says he hopes his wife and baby will come too.
The show goes to air later this year, but producers won't say when.
Dean's hot wheels
Emirates Team NZ skipper Dean Barker has a love for speed on and off the sea. He's now the proud owner of an American muscle car - a black Chevrolet Camaro. And insiders tell The Diary it comes with all the "bells and whistles".
He plans to ship it back to New Zealand when the racing in San Francisco is completed. Quite what his teammates make of the purchase is unclear.
Most of Team NZ are getting around the place on bicycles while Deano revs by in his performance car.
Gilda's baby Cannon
Television producers and lifestyle mags are clamouring for her tell-all interview (one editor from a modest circulating title embarrassingly gate-crashed her table to beg for a scoop) but Gilda Kirkpatrick has spurned all offers. The new mum is focusing on her newborn, who now goes by the name of Cannon Xerxes Kirkpatrick.
Xerxes, meaning "ruling over heroes", was the King of Persia in the fifth century BC and the name holds special significance for the Iranian-born rich lister.
Cannon has military connotations, so the newest addition to the Kirkpatrick clan (of proud Irish descent) has some strong appellations to live up to.
Wife also an asset
Benji Marshall is opting out of his contract with NRL team Wests Tigers to apparently pursue a career in rugby, possibly with the Blues, which means while Auckland is losing Casey Williams and lofty hubby Ali to Japan, we may be gaining another footballer's wife - Zoe Marshall.
But this WAG comes with her own set of sports-spouse rules.
For starters, cosmetic injections to iron out wrinkles are a no-no.
"My husband has two rules: no drugs, no Botox," Zoe told a Sydney paper. "Drugs are an absolute deal-breaker in our family and I respect that. I am married to an elite athlete and that is what I expect from him."
But tanning, tell-alls to women's mags and selfie Instagram shots are fine. Zoe's sure to fit right in.
However, Zoe is a different sort of WAG. She's not a qualified teacher (Amy Kahui), or a former sports star (Honor Carter), or adept at creating a macrame bracelet (Sally Ridge). She is, however, a TV presenter, blogger and Sunday Telegraph columnist, according to her personal website. Zoe has positioned herself as a media personality with chutzpah, and as much as our Blues team needs her hubby, Auckland could do with another prepossessing, plucky celeb. Who else will keep the paps employed?
Jones a hit on show
He was knighted in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours but Sir Bob Jones is keen to ditch the monarchy. However, he still wants to keep his title. He disputed the matter in a debate on Sunday for TV3's referendum show, The Vote, which will screen tonight.
The 74-year-old believes New Zealand should dump the British monarchy because it's irrelevant to our new cultural identity.
Duncan Garner, leading the opposition team in favour of keeping the royals, told The Diary he bickered with the businessman.
"I called Bob a hypocrite and asked him to sign a letter giving up his knighthood, but he just scoffed. He did sign it, but it's what he signed that's interesting."
Sir Bob is the breakout star of the show.
An insider on The Vote said Jones' brazen style brought the laughs.
"The crowd loved his obnoxious insults. He called the Queen 'thick' and Prince Charles 'a tampon'. Bob's like an older version of Paul Henry: he says it like it is. He could be Paul Henry's dad! It'll be interesting to see if he translates well on TV."
Sir Bob, a Herald columnist, was joined by Shane Jones and Laila Harre on Guyon Espiner's team, against Garner's team of Ron Mark, Simon O'Connor and magazine editor Louise Wright.
Total change of life
A former media exec has embraced a life change that no one quite predicted, say friends.
The married man has apparently left his wife for the company of younger men.
Buff, beautiful young men.
