'DWTS' Host Alfonso Ribeiro Reveals Emotional Way the Show Will Honor Len Goodman

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Dancing With the Stars season 32 is set to premiere on September 26, and it's bringing with it many significant changes. But the most notable difference this time around is that the judges' panel will be without the late Len Goodman.

Len retired in November 2022 after 17 years of being the head judge on the show. A few months later in April, news broke that the former TV personality died at the age of 78 from bone cancer. As his presence was so significantly felt throughout DWTS'history, host Alfonso Ribeiro assured viewers that the dancing pros will make sure to honor Len in the only way they know how.

"I can guarantee you that every one of those pros will be making sure that the routines are still designed for Len," he explained in an interview with People. "I know I've talked to a few of them and they will be putting in specific steps that Len used to love, just to make sure that the content is still there for Len."

The pros' dance routines aren't the only way Dancing With the Stars will acknowledge Len's tenure on the show. Alfonso further revealed that a memoriam segment of sorts is in the works, which he says will pull on the heartstrings of everyone watching when the time comes.

"I'll be amazing," he confirmed. "I mean, he was the best."

As some viewers may know, Len was a part of Dancing With the Stars from its inaugural season in 2005. While judging the series, he also was a head judge on Strictly Come Dancing in England from 2004 to 2016. At the time of his death, BBC reported that he was surrounded by his family in a hospice in Kent, England.

"It is with great sadness to announce that Len Goodman has passed away peacefully, aged 78," his manager Jackie Gills told the outlet at the time. "A much loved husband, father and grandfather who will be sorely missed by family, friends and all who knew him."

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