Shirley Ballas is crossing the pond and heading to the U.S. to be a guest judge on Dancing With the Stars! For those of you who didn’t watch Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, Shirley is an award-winning ballroom dancer who serves as a head judge on the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing. She also happens to be the mom of DWTS pro Mark Ballas (which means, yes, she’ll be judging Mark during next week’s Horror Movie Night).
“Shirley will fly to the US later this month after the Strictly live show finishes,” a source tells The Sun. “She will then film Dancing With The Stars on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, before flying back to the UK for Strictly the following day. It’s a whirlwind schedule but she jumped at the chance to take part. This is just a one-off for this run but if the US TV bosses think Shirley is a hit, they’re sure to see if she would come back.”
The insider adds that “TV bosses in the US loved Shirley” on Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, and “that’s why they booked her for the main run. She translated so well with the American audience and rated really well.”
Shirley is known for her strong-but-fair criticism, with a heavy focus on technique. She doesn’t go easy on anyone, so it’ll definitely be interesting having her in the judges’ seat!