The next series of Strictly Come Dancing will be fronted by two new hosts – and fans are now wondering if the BBC could be searching for a new judge too.
Shirley Ballas, who joined as head judge in 2017, has sparked speculation that she could be about to exit the programme after reportedly landing a huge new job in the US.
The 65-year-old is said to be in talks to head stateside and serve as a judge on Dancing with the Stars: the Next Pro, an upcoming spin-off of the US version of Strictly.
The show will chart the hunt for a new addition to the US cast and Ballas is reportedly in the running for a spot on the panel alongside her son, Mark, who has been a professional dancer in 21 series of Dancing with the Stars. Its 2025 winner, Robert Irwin, is slated for hosting duties.
According to Deadline, the programme will air this summer – when vital preparation for Strictly is usually underway.
The news has left fans of the hit BBC show wondering if Ballas’s Strictly future could be in doubt, with one labelling it “very interesting” and writing on Reddit: “[It] makes me wonder if she’s considering leaving Strictly for the DWTS main show!”
“With Tess and Claudia leaving and now Shirley heading somewhere else, I’m afraid this may be the start of the end,” another said. “Hope she isn’t leaving!”
The Independent has approached representatives for the BBC and Ballas for comment.
Ballas joined Strictly in 2017, replacing Len Goodman, who had served as head judge since the first series in 2004.
The star, who was a world champion during her professional career, has often spoken candidly about the toll judging the show takes on her mental health.
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The head judge traditionally has the deciding vote if a dance-off results in a deadlock, and Ballas has frequently found herself on the receiving end of relentless messages about her decisions.
Ballas admitted in 2023 that the trolling once left her on the verge of quitting the show, explaining: “Some of the messages were so cruel. Just, how ugly you are and how fat you are, and how you’ve got horrible arms, and, ‘You don’t like men. You don’t like women. You don’t like Black men. You don’t like Black women.’
“And then once it starts steamrolling, it goes even further.”
For 2025, Strictly bosses switched things up so that a different judge was given the deciding vote each week – but Ballas said she still found herself bearing the brunt of criticism when series favourite Lewis Cope was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
While all of the judges voted to save Amber Davies in the dance-off, Ballas said she was “called every name in the book” for telling Cope his dance wasn’t the best during the live show.
“After his dance, I just said: ‘It wasn’t your best day’ – which it wasn’t. Then they went to Craig [Revel Horwood], who said the same thing,” she told The i. “He scored him an eight, I gave him a nine, but I was blamed for him going home. I think it is disgraceful that somebody would write that.”