No more 10’s from Len? “Dancing With the Stars” head judge Len Goodman has announced his departure after the next season.
Len’s saving his last dance for spring — he’ll stick around to crown the show’s 20th mirrorball champions before retiring his paddles, according to a new report out of the UK.
“‘DWTS’ next year is their tenth year, it’s their 20th series of the show, so I think that’s a nice place to stop. Ten years, 20 series, I’m going to stop doing ‘DWTS’ when it ends in May. I’ll be finished,” Len told Daily Star Sunday exclusively. “Next year, I’m not going to do the flying backwards and forwards. I’m not going to do the American show… I’m doing the spring one when I go out there and stay there but that will be my last one.”
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This last season, which saw Alfonso Ribeiro and partner Witney Carson crowned champs, Pitbull, Kevin Hart and Jessie J pinch-hit for Len while he was across the pond judging “Strictly Come Dancing” to reduce the amount of traveling the 70-year-old had to endure.
“I’ve got my wife, I’ve got my son. My mother is still alive – she’s currently in hospital. I’ve had virtually no time to visit her,” Len elaborated. “So I need a bit of time off to get on with a normal life.”
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Former pro and two-time “DWTS” winner Julianne Hough permanently joined Len and fellow original judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba beginning Season 19. Len, Bruno and Carrie Ann have been mainstays at the judges’ table since the show debuted in 2005.
In November, Access Hollywood confirmed that professional dancer Cheryl Burke has left the show.
“Dancing With the Stars” returns Spring 2015 to ABC.
— Paige Feigenbaum
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