Dancing With the Stars Season 20: Len Goodman’s Last Season, Maksim Chmerkovskiy Rumored Replacement

Dancing With the Stars Season 20: Len Goodman’s Last Season, Maksim Chmerkovskiy Rumored Replacement
TV personalities Len Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba attend the HBO Luxury Lounge featuring Motorola and PANDORA Jewelry in honor of The 65th Primetime Emmy Awards at The Four Seasons Hotel on September 21, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for MediaPlacement)
Zachary Stieber
12/8/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

Len Goodman says Dancing With the Stars season 20 will be his last, as he’s getting too old to keep flying back and forth between DWTS and Strictly Come Dancing.

“Next year, I’m not going to do the flying backwards and forwards – I’m not going to do the American show... I’ve got to have a bit of time off,” Goodman told reporters, according to Digital Spy.

“I’ve got my wife, I’ve got my son, my mother is still alive and she’s in hospital – I’ve had virtually no time to go and visit her.

“So, I just need a bit of time off to get on with a normal life. And it was either Strictly went or the American one went or the tour went... I’m doing the spring one when I go out there... and that’s going to be my last one.”

Goodman sees the 10th anniversary season as a nice place to stop, and also believes the Bruno Tonioli--who also flies back and forth between DWTS and SCD--will continue further with DWTS.

“I'd imagine Bruno will still do it. But he’s ten years younger than me,” Goodman said.

Dancing With the Stars producer Rob Wade previously confirmed that Goodman, Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Julianne Hough would be back for season 20.

Olympic athlete Meryl Davis and dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, winners of "Dancing with the Stars" , appear on ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, in New York. (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Olympic athlete Meryl Davis and dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, winners of "Dancing with the Stars" , appear on ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, in New York. (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

 

The four judge format seemed to work better than the three judge format, leading fans and others to wonder who Goodman’s replacement will be. A top candidate is Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who reportedly expressed his desire to judge on the show after winning the Mirror Ball trophy in season 18 with Meryl Davis.

Chmerkovskiy was passed over in favor of Hough, but may still want to join the panel.