Exclusive

Dancing With the Stars Replacing Judges? "Nothing Has Been Decided," Source Says

Exclusive! Reports have surfaced saying original judges Len Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba are on their way out of the ABC reality hit

By Kristin Dos Santos, Tierney Bricker May 22, 2013 4:40 PMTags
DWTS, Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno TonioliABC/Bob D’Amico

Is Dancing With the Stars pulling an American Idol and replacing its judging panel next season?!

After ABC announced it would be downsizing the reality series to one night a week, the New York Post is now reporting that judges Len Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba are on their way out as their contracts are up, while Bruno Tonioli will stick around for season 17. So is it true, was the season 16 finale Goodman and Inaba's last dance?!

"It's true no one is locked in under contract yet, but that's not necessarily unusual at this stage," a source close to the show exclusively tells E! News. "Nothing has been decided yet about next season. There definitely will be format changes and it's possible there may be some casting changes but those discussions are just beginning."

While ABC had no comment on the rumors, another source tells us that the report is "speculative" as the season just ended yesterday. "The producers will take a break and then start discussions about what the fall will look like."

As for Goodman and Inaba's contracts and whether or not the original judges are on their way out, our source insists, "Nothing decided yet."

Network president Paul Lee recently talked about the series' need to attract a younger audience, saying, "One of the critical things each cycle is to make sure we nail the casting. You saw us aging down Bachelor this year with some spectacular casting. So certainly we're going to make sure as we focus on Monday, we focus as well on casting that will help us age it down."