Wed, 27 September 2023 at 5:54 pm

'Dancing With the Stars' Honors Late Judge Len Goodman, Renames Trophy After Him

Dancing With the Stars is paying tribute to Len Goodman in a special way.

The late ballroom expert passed away earlier this year, after a battle with bone cancer.

Len served as head judge on the show for nearly all of it’s past 31 seasons, and last November, he announced that season 31 would be his last.

As the dance competition series returned for season 32 on Monday night (September 26), they took some time to honor the late judge and make announcement of how they’re paying tribute to him from here on out.

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Towards the beginning of the season premiere episode, hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough took a moment after announcing the dancers and current judges.

“We’re obviously missing a big part of our Dancing With the Stars family tonight. Of course, I’m talking about head judge Len Goodman, who passed away earlier this year,” Alfonso shared.

“Len was on this panel for nearly all of our 31 seasons and though he is certainly irreplaceable, and yes he is, we wanted to keep his spirit alive,” Julianne continued.

“And that’s why, as a tribute to him, we redesigned and renamed our ultimate prize. Let’s get our first look at the Len Goodman Mirror Ball Trophy,” Alfonso added, before it panned to the newly redesigned trophy.

“It is so fantastic that Len will always be going forward with us,” Julianne concluded. “And in a few weeks, we’ll have a spectacular tribute to Len from our dancers that you won’t want to miss.”

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