After three seasons on the judges' panel, former pro dancer Julianne Hough confirmed that she will not return as one of the judges in "Dancing with the Stars" season 22.
"I will miss being on the panel for Season 22, but have a lot of exciting stuff coming that I look forward to sharing," the former "DWTS" champion told People. "The pro dancers, producers and crew at 'DWTS' will always be my family."
However, the 27-year-old dancer-actress did not reveal her plans for the rest of 2016. But she recently joined the highly successful "Grease: Live" from Fox, where she portrays the role of Sandy.
This will not be the first time that Hough has left the show since she joined in season 4 as a competing professional dance partner. After season 8, Hough decided to take a break from the long-running celebrity dance competition to focus on her music career. Then she returned as a guest dancer and guest judge in seasons 13, 14, 17, and 18 before joining the permanent judges' panel in season 19.
While Hough will say goodbye to the show for now, producer Rob Wade told People that she can still be back in the future installments of the dance competition. "Julianne will always be a part of the 'Dancing with the Stars' family and we hope to see her back in the ballroom in the future," Wade said.
But while Hough will exit the judges' panel, former judge Len Goodman is returning for "Dancing with the Stars" season 22 after sitting it out last season.
Meanwhile, former "Dancing with the Stars" champion Alfonso Ribeiro recently weighed in on the rumors regarding the alleged participation of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star Scott Disick.
"I neither know him or care about him enough to have an opinion. He's not a star. So it's not — 'Dancing With the What?' Dancing With the guy who's married to a star, I guess?" the actor-comedian told TMZ. "I don't think anyone's tuning in for Scott Disick. He's just a guy who hangs out in bars."
Other rumors claimed that the network will not offer Disick the large paycheck that he was allegedly demanding to join the show.
"Dancing with the Stars" season 22 premieres on ABC on March 21.
