Late Judge Len Goodman Honored In ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Premiere

The fate of the new season of Dancing With the Stars seemed uncertain just days ago, but on Tuesday night, the reality TV hit returned with a new batch of sequin-covered celebrities, ambitious pro hoofers and a dose of fresh dance floor drama.

There was, however, one fan-favorite part of the series that remained missing—the man who made sense of ballroom dance for the average viewer and who held the competition to high standards for 31 seasons, head judge Len Goodman.

But while the late DWTS icon couldn’t be there on premiere night, a tribute to him proved he was far from forgotten.

They’re all dancing for Len now

Other than ballroom bragging rights, the prize for the winners of Dancing With the Stars has always been the same—the champs waltz away with a mirror-ball trophy that reflects all the glitz and glitter of the dance-fueled contest. And that will be the same for Season 32, as well. Except this time, the award is a little different.

“We’ve redesigned and renamed our ultimate prize,” host Alfonso Ribeiro announced shortly after the season premiere opened.

It’s now known as The Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.

Ribeiro’s new co-host, former DWTS pro Jullianne Hough noted, “It’s so fantastic that Len will always be going forward with us.”

As executive producer Conrad Green told USA TODAY last week, the new take on the trophy “will now be lifted on Dancing With the Stars like the Vince Lombardi trophy is lifted at the Super Bowl. We wanted to make Len a permanent part of this show, to always remind people the importance he’s had to ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and how much he meant to all of us.”

And then there were three

Of course, there’s just no replacing Goodman, who died in April at the age of 78, and as such, DWTS won’t be filling the spot on the panel where he sat alongside fellow judges Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Derek Hough.

At least not permanently.

MORE FROM FORBESLen Goodman Made Ballroom The Real Star Of ‘DWTS’By Ree Hines

Instead, throughout the season, guest judges may keep his seat warm, but that’s as far as it will go. The rest of the time, just as on premiere night, it will just be the three remaining judges dishing out the scores.

And, frankly, that’s how it should be, because no one could ever hold Goodman’s scoring paddle.

While other judges have had a habit of handing out sentimental scores, the venerable Goodman was more often inclined to grade the dances by the ballroom book. If there was a forbidden lift during a Viennese Waltz, he was quick to call it out. If there was more style than substance on the dance floor, he deducted points. And if he spotted trendy shakes and shimmies in routines that called for elegance and control, Goodman didn’t care who called him old-fashioned, he simply didn’t “go in for all that business.”

More to come

The tributes won’t end there. Goodman will be honored more as the season continues.

As co-host Hough teased, “In a few weeks, we’ll have a spectacular tribute to Len from our dancers that you won’t want to miss.”