Is Strictly Come Dancing Dropping Len Goodman? If You Don’t Want Him, We’ll Take Him!
Has Judge Len Goodman been axed from Strictly Come Dancing? I don’t know, but, The Mirror in the UK is reporting Len may be dropped from the judging panel to keep ratings high. WHA? Hey, SCD TPTB, if you don’t want Len, we’ll take him full time. If true (and I question this rumor being this is a tabloid source reporting it), this is age-ism at it’s finest. Let us know what you think…
Len Goodman may be dropped from the panel of Strictly Come Dancing , as producers plan ways to keep the show ahead of X Factor.
BBC bosses are responding to calls from fans who have questioned the relevance of the 71-year-old judge.
Len has presided over the panel since 2004 and also appeared on US version Dancing With The Stars for an impressive 20 seasons. He is due to return for the 22 season.
He recently tweeted: “Back on DWTS season 22. So nice people are welcoming me back. Be careful what you wish for.”
But now the veteran host may be told to waltz away from his UK job in an effort to continue beating X Factor in the ratings war.
One fan tweeted: “Remove sad old Len and replace with weekly guest judges like they do in the US version.”
While another simply asked: “What’s The Point Of Len Anymore?”
Len himself recently said who he would like to take over from him when the time comes.
“Anton would be perfect to take over from me if the time comes and I’m too dithery to carry on – or if they decide they’ve had enough of me,” he revealed.
Strictly have denied to comment on the latest claims.
I’m in two minds about this. The Mirror isn’t really that trustworthy, but if it’s true it wouldn’t be the first time SCD has let cast members go in favour of younger people.
Some years ago they fired Arlene Phillips from the judging panel and I seem to recall something about them trying to demote older pros to troupe dancers.
“One fan tweeted: ‘Remove sad old Len and replace with weekly guest judges like they do in the US version.'”
These people don’t know what they’re saying, OMG…
SCD had its best series in a long while, and I even dare to say that they were even better than DWTS S21, which happened without Len there.
I’d be sad to see Strictly going down the same “more entertainment, less actual ballroom” road the way DWTS did. They have produced really good numbers without that this year.
It’s gonna bite them in the butt but as the title says if you don’t want him we’ll take him!
as much as I hate typing these words, but Len is better in the US version than he is in the UK, he is very well balanced in DWTS ,where in the UK there is a lot of grumpy cats in the panel , hell Len seems nicer in strictly and that says a lot, but as you said ,if they don’t want him we will take him ,he was sorely missed in S21.
Sounds like they’ve sourced a few fan tweets and ran a story as they know it’ll get hits. Load of rubbish! Len will leave Strictly in his own time, not the shows.
I agree with M8, there might be some fans who want to get rid of Len, but I’m not sure the BBC is ready for that. They hung on to Sir Bruce well past his sell-by date. I think the Strictly viewing audience skews even older than the DWTS one and the GBP is much more appreciate of actual ballroom than the average US viewer. So the show needs to hold on to an older judge and one with legitimate ballroom cred. However, if Anton is ready to hang up his dancing shoes, then I could see Len being willing to do a “phased retirement” with Anton as his designated replacement.
I like Len on both what I’ve seen of Strictly and DWTS so I’m conflicted about this.
Also I had no idea Arlene Philips was ever a Strictly judge, though I’ve enjoyed her choreo in movies and stuff and know her from being a judge on a show over here once. If she really was fired due to her age and they do the same with Len that would be a severe disappointment.