Brooke Burke-Charvet latest casualty of DWTS belt-tightening
Brooke Burke-Charvet was fired from 'Dancing With The Stars.' A co-host since Season 10, Brooke Burke-Charvet won Season 7 with Derek Hough.
Former Dancing With the Stars TV host Brooke Burke-Charvet in Beverly Hills, Calif., in 2012. The 41-year-old mother of four was fired Friday.
(Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP, file)
Ratings are down and the belt-tightening continues at ABC-TVs "Dancing With the Stars" (DWTS).
Brooke Burke-Charvet, Season 7 winner with Derek Hough and co-host since Season 10, was dropped from the show late Friday. Burke-Charvet confirmed her exit via Twitter.
"weird day….Shocking pre-season elimination #DWTS…ME. @Tom_Bergeron didn't even read my name. I won't be returning to the show this season."
She issued this statement to E!: "I have enjoyed seven seasons co-hosting DWTS but understand the need for change considering the position of the show at this juncture," she said in a statement. "I've always been one to embrace change and looking forward to pursuing opportunities I previously wasn't able to entertain because of contractual obligations to the show. I've seen my fair share of shocking eliminations in the ballroom but this one takes the cake."
Burke-Charvet's firing comes just three weeks after Harold Wheeler's 18-piece big band was let go.
Wheeler's musicians, arrangers and singers have been with "Dancing with the Stars" for all 17 seasons. The newer, smaller Ray Chew band (formerly of American Idol) will feature more electronic and more pre-recorded music. The show actually began using recorded tracks for some of the dances in the most reason season, and it appears the network has decided to continue with that trend, according to BuddyTV.com.
“We feel that there are some types of music and types of songs, a lot of modern music particularly, is so produced that it's impossible for an 18-piece band to replicate that sound," DWTS executive producer Conrad Green told The Hollywood Reporter. "You get to a point where you're forcing a band to try and do sound that they just literally can't pull off.”
DWTS will also stay with the one night a week format introduced this past season, instead of two nights. The Tuesday nights results show was eliminated.
Given all the changes this month so far, how secure are the DWTS judges feeling? Will we see Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba seated at the judges' table?
Season 18 of DWTS kicks off on March 17.