SPLITSVILLE: Finalists Mark Ballas and Aly Raisman
PADDLED: Judges Cara Ann Inaba and Len Goodman (left and center) may be out but Bruno Tonioli is likely to return next year. (
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‘Dancing with The Stars” will have a very different look when it returns to ABC in September.
After 16 seasons, TV’s top-rated competition show is being cut to one night a week and given a radical makeover— which will likely include a shakeup at the judge’s table.
“No one has a confirmed contract yet,” a show source tells The Post. “I think Bruno [Tonioli] will be back, but Carrie Ann [Inaba] and Len [Goodman] are probably gone.
“The network has been very evasive about it.”
“Dancing” will also be losing several of its most popular professionals.
Four-time champ Derek Hough will sit out next season to work on a new scripted show about the world of dance for the Starz cable network. Fellow pro Mark Ballas is also reportedly in talks to appear in his own reality show.
Fan favorite Cheryl Burke is also unlikely to return, the sources say.
“[The producers] will use this time to figure out how to restructure the show and trim fat off the budget,” the insider says. “The show has become too expensive.”
ABC has declined to confirm whether the dancers or contestants will be asked to accept pay cuts now that the Tuesday night results shows have been scrapped.
Eliminations are now expected to be announced at the beginning of each new episode.
“What made DWTS stand out was that it was always a variety show,” the source notes. “Now it has become just a dancing show.”
Host Tom Bergeron — who is expected to remain — admits he understands the show is in need of an overhaul.
“There’s no denying our numbers have been slipping,” he told Today.com last week.
Ironically, Monday night’s final four performance finale pulled in 15 million viewers — the show’s best numbers since its premiere last spring.