ABC "Dancing With the Stars"
Fans of “Dancing With the Stars” want to see some former professional dancers to come back and be part of the judging panel on the show.
“Dancing With the Stars” is set for its historic move to Disney+ in the fall of 2022, but there has been little information about which of the cast members will be making the move with the show.
Derek Hough has confirmed that he’ll be returning, as has Bruno Tonioli, and multiple professional dancers have also expressed their interest in coming back to the show.
Some fans want changes on the judging panel going into the new season, however.
Fans Want Former Pros In the Judging Panel
In a Reddit thread about the judging panel on “Dancing With the Stars,” some fans expressed their hopes to see former professional dancers from the show as judges in the coming seasons. Some also mentioned former contestants or winners that could be judges on the show.
“I think it would be great to see Anna Trebunskaya, Debbie Allen, Craig Revel Horwood, and I really liked Alfonso Ribeiro as a judge in both DWTS and Strictly,” the original post reads. “A panel with these names would be wonderful, in my opinion.”
Ribeiro is the winner of season 19 of “Dancing With the Stars,” and Trebunskaya was a professional dancer on 11 seasons of the show.
In the replies, one fan said that they’d love to see former professional dancer Kym Herjavec as a judge on the show.
“Cheryl [Burke] would be perfect!” another person replied. “I feel like she’d give great advice while also being harsh. Also a bonus because she’d retire as a pro.”
Another wrote, “I think Maks [Chmerkovskiy] cause his critique videos from the previous season were really good plus he’s great TV lets be honest.”
“I’d love to see some of the pros return – Karina [Smirnoff], Anna [Trebunskaya], Louis [van Amstel], Dmitry [Chaplin], Tony [Dovolani],” one person added. “I’m not overly familiar with international editions, but from [‘Strictly Come Dancing’], Brendan Cole, Kevin Clifton, and Oti Mabuse if she has time in her busy schedule.”
They added, “As for non-DWTS alums, maybe Paula Abdul or Mary Murphy now that she’s not on SYTYCD?”
Some Fans Want New Judges
With both Hough and Tonioli returning for a new season, there’s no reason to think there will be significant changes made to the judging panel in the offseason, but fans are still speculating about who could join the panel if there were new judges.
In a Reddit thread, one fan said that the only thing they were sure about when it came to the panel was Hough’s return.
“With the new judges on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ for some reason it’s making me think that we could have a shake up and have some new faces,” the post reads. “Would anyone object to Mary Murphy joining as a judge? She’s a familiar face and name, she’s the judge on SYTYCD who knows ballroom the best. So she is an actual professional not just some random person placed on a judging panel. I don’t know is she’d do it but if she were to come one and replace someone (like Carrie Ann) I’d be OK with it.”
“My feeling is Len could go because they want someone younger, and maybe CA or Bruno,” one person replied. “Truthfully, I could care less about having a big name. Just get me a judge that is entertaining, kind, knows what they are talking about, and can put together constructive criticism.”
Another fan wants to see more familiar faces on the panel.
“I would love Cheryl [Burke] and Maks [Chmerkovskiy] coming in as judges, at least for a season to try it out,” one reply reads.
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