Dancer and influencer JoJo Siwa returns to the judges’ panel of So You Think You Can Dance, which starts season 18 on Fox Monday, March 4. Siwa will be on the panel with Allison Holker and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
She replaces Nigel Lythgoe, who is facing a sexual assault lawsuit.
The show sees contestants compete in dance challenges, and eliminations happen every episode. The last dancer standing gets the $100,000 grand prize.
Fox said the show, for the first time, will offer a “documentary-style inside look at the contestants’ dynamics, following them throughout the competition as they go through their personal and competitive journeys, including the daily struggles, new relationships, personality clashes and more.”
From Omaha, Siwa was on Dance Moms as a child. She released her debut EP in 2018. She was named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2020. Siwa was a judge on So You Think You Can Dance in season 17 and was a contestant on the Fox competition series Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, on season 30.
Season 17’s judges were Siwa, Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Matthew Morrison. Boss died late in 2022.
Lythgoe was announced as a season 18 judge on So You Think You Can Dance late last year, and the lawsuit was announced earlier this month.
He and Simon Fuller created the series.
So You Think You Can Dance is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions. It is executive produced by Daniel Martin, who is also showrunner, and Barry Adelman, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman. Deeley is a producer.
