Rumours began circulating this week that this series of Strictly Come Dancing could be the last for its head judge Shirley Ballas.
However, the Queen of Latin has reassured fans that she will be staying on the BBC show for the foreseeable future.
On Tuesday night, Shirley appeared as a guest judge on Strictly’s US counterpart, Dancing With The Stars, for its annual Halloween special.
This came just weeks after she appeared as a judge on the spin-off series Dancing With The Stars: The Next Pro, where she and her dancer son, Mark Ballas, tried to find a new pro dancer for the main show.
BBC/Ray Burmiston/BBC Creative
And while Shirley happily admitted that appearing on the American dancing show was something that had always been on her “wish list”, she’s adamant that the US series won’t take her away from the British ballroom.
“I’ll do Strictly and then I’ll fly over to the US and judge that, then come back again. So it’s double duty this year,” she told Prima in an interview conducted on the very first day of filming her 10th series of Strictly.
She also insisted that she’s staying put on the BBC Saturday night show, despite what fans might have read.
“It’s going to be very interesting, but I’m 100 per cent not leaving Strictly,” she confirmed.
Elsewhere in the interview, Shirley made it clear to Prima before her appearance on Dancing With The Stars that she planned to be “more strict” than fans of the American series might expect.
It’s fair to say she certainly lived up to these words, shockingly giving Dancing With The Stars frontrunner Julia Stiles just four points during Tuesday’s live show, despite the show’s regular judges awarding her sevens and eights.
The ballroom gasped when Shirley held up her four paddle, with fellow judge Bruno Tonioli clearly taken aback by her harsh criticism of the 10 Things I Hate About You actor.
Similarly , The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air star Tatyana Ali and her pro Jan Ravnik received a four from Shirley, and three eights from the rest of the panel.
If she were to be invited back, Shirley wouldn’t be the first judge to appear on both Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing With The Stars simultaneously. Both Bruno Tonioli and the late Len Goodman juggled judging both shows at the same time for over a decade.
Bruno, who left Strictly in 2022, continues to judge Dancing With The Stars, but admitted he struggled with the transatlantic travel between the two.
“I just couldn’t do the flying anymore. I don’t know how I survived that schedule. To be honest, it’s a miracle,” Bruno told the Daily Mail in 2022.
Shirley will return to the Strictly ballroom on Saturday night for the show’s much-hyped Halloween special.
This weekend, the results show will bring audiences a surprise twist, holding its first triple dance-off.
