The 17th season of the reality TV dance competition “So You Think You Can Dance” just started airing last week, but already, there’s drama. The drama isn’t on the screen though, it behind the scenes.
Actor Matthew Morrison was excited to be a judge on the show for the first time this season. He replaced Nigel Lythgoe; however, now producers are scrambling to find a replacement for Morrison mid-way through filming the season.
Morrison announced in a statement that he was leaving the show for “failing to follow competition production protocols.” He didn’t specify what those protocols were, and that left a lot of people wondering what exactly happened.
Watch the video below to hear Morrison’s full statement and to hear several theories about what might have caused his sudden exit from the show.
The guesses in the video above about why Morrison left the show are not true. A source close to the show told PEOPLE what really happened. According to this source, Morrison made one of the female contestants fell uncomfortable. The source explained, “They didn’t have sex, but he reached out to her through flirty direct messages on social media.” The source added, “She felt uncomfortable with his line of comments and went to producers, who then got Fox involved. He was fired after they did their own investigation.”
While the source confirmed that Morrison and the contestant “never met up off-set,” the source did describe the situation as “an inappropriate relationship.” The source explained, “It was just messages that crossed the line.”
Even though Morrison is no longer judging “So You Think You Can Dance,” you will still see him on the reality show for the next few weeks. That’s because most of the shows were pre-filmed. As Morrison explained in his statement, the show had already finished “filming the audition rounds for the show and completing the selection of the 12 finalists.” Reportedly, Morrison’s replacement will be announced in the near future.
Do you watch “So You Think You Can Dance”? Does it surprise you that a judge would be replaced mid-season? What do you think Morrison said in the private messages to the contestant? Who do you think will replace Morrison as judge on the show?