Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Kristina Rihanoff has shared her unexpected picks to take Dame Darcey Bussell’s spot on the show’s judging panel.
Although she stepped down from Strictly in 2016, Kristina still regularly passes comment on the show, and voiced her opinions about who should take over from Darcey during an interview on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain.
On whether she’d take on the role, Kristina said: “Of course I would love to be a judge. But I don’t see myself in that role yet.
“I think the panel needs another woman and someone from a different background to ballroom dancing, someone from street dancing or a commercial dancing background, who is also a professional dancer and perhaps a judge.”
Interestingly, Kristina’s first pick to replace Darcey is choreographer Mandy Moore – not to be confused with the popstar and actress of the same name – responsible for dance sequences in the film La La Land.
“We all loved the La La Land movie and the wonderful Mandy Moore, who was choreographer for that movie and she is a judge on So You Think You Can Dance in America,” Kristina explained. “She is in America and she choreographed a lot of wonderful numbers on Strictly with us pros. We all loved her. She would be great.”
Kristina added: “Or Nicole Scherzinger, she is a beautiful stunning lady who has training in street and commercial dancing. She would be a good judge.”
As well as her pop career, Nicole previously won the 10th series of Dancing With The Stars, America’s version of Strictly, and served as an X Factor judge on both sides of the Atlantic.
Darcey announced last week that she was quitting Strictly after seven years on the panel.
She insisted: “I am not leaving because of any upset or disagreement at all, I am just stepping away to give more focus to my many other commitments in dance, after seven truly wonderful years that I can’t imagine having gone any better.
“I know I will miss being part of this unique show and the fact that it celebrates dance is something I am so passionate about. I hope that I may be very lucky to be asked back again one day.”
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.
CORRECTION: This article previously included an image of the former pop singer and actress Mandy Moore, which has now been updated.