Shirley Ballas has sparked rumours that she is about to quit Strictly Come Dacning (Image: PA)
Shirley Ballas has sparked rumours that she is about to quit Strictly Come Dancing. The TV star, 65, has served as a judge on the BBC Saturday night favourite for almost a decade, but is now said to be going to the US to appear on a spin-off of Dancing with the Stars.
It’s expected that bosses will make an announcement in due course but the champion dancer, whose son Mark, 39, appears on the American version of Strictly Come Dancing as a professional, will reportedly appear on a reality competition search alongside her son to find the next pro for the upcoming season of DWTS.
It’s not yet known when cameras will roll on the new programme, but Strictly Come Dancing in the UK is normally carried out from September to December, so the TV star may have to choose between the two.
Shirley is thought to be joining her son Mark, also a professional dancer, on a DWTS spin-off(Image: Getty Images)
Shirley currently judges Strictly alongside Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Ray Burmiston)
Dancing With the Stars normally airs around the same time as Strictly Come Dancing, and it’s also been claimed that Robert Irwin, who won the last edition of DWTS, will host the spin-off.
RealitySteve was the first to report the news, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I know people were hoping for a DWTS-pro show for today’s announcement. I can confirm it’s happening. Robert Irwin is hosting, 2 of the judges are Mark Ballas and his mom, and the winner will be a pro on next season of DWTS. Announcement is coming soon.”
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Fans were quick to react to the news and began to speculate if the panel, currently also made up of Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood, and Anton Du Beke, was about to lose its head judge. One fan wrote on Reddit: “VERY interesting, makes me wonder if she’s considering leaving Strictly for the DWTS main show!”
Another said: “I don’t think she will leave strictly unless they both are clashing!” If Shirley does indeed quit Strictly Come Dancing for the US, she will be following in the footsteps of several other former judges, including the late Len Goodman, whom she took over from when he left the BBC show for America, as well as Bruno Tonioli, who has served as a judge on DWTS since it began in 2005.
It comes after long-standing hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly quit the show last year (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Ray Burmiston)
It’s not yet clear what the next series of Strictly Come Dancing will look like, as long-serving hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman announced towards the end of last year that they had quit after more than a decade together.
Whilst it’s thought that BBC radio star Zoe Ball and former Big Brother presenter Emma Willis are battling it out for one of the top jobs, an official announcement has yet to be made. Ever since Tess and Claudia broke the news that they were leaving, several big showbiz names have been rumoured to be their replacements, including Chris and Rosie Ramsay, Rylan Clark, Holly Willoughby, Amanda Holden and Angela Scanlon amongst a host of others.
In the initial announcement, which consisted of a video of the pair sitting next to one another, Claudia began with: “Hi, it’s Claud and Tess. There have been some rumblings, and we want you to hear this from us…” Tess added: “Yeah, we have news. After 21 wonderfully joyful years on Strictl,y we have decided the time is right to step aside and pass on the baton…”
“The very sparkly baton…” Claudia continued before she turned to Tess and said: “You’ve been here since the beginning…” Tess, who used to host the show with the late Bruce Forsyth, then replied: “2004 with Brucey – lovely Bruce.
“That’s over two decades ago and a lot of that time has been with you. It’s been a huge part of our lives, hasn’t it? Since our children were literally babes in arms and now they’re young adults and I think, genuinely we have cherished every second.”
Claudia added: “We have, we’re so lucky to have been part of this amazing show and we just want to thank the Strictly team because Strictly is the people who make it so thank you…” Tess agreed: “They are the very best team in television we’ve been so lucky.
“And the audience as well, they’ve been so wonderful. They’ve been with us for this entire journey of 21 years and we wouldn’t have a show without them and they’ve been just so loyal and supportive.”
