Channel 7 has publicly denied reports that Dancing With The Stars Australia will not be renewed after speculation the cancellation could impact the show’s hosts Sonia Kruger and Dr Chris Brown.
Dancing With The Stars is set to return to Channel 7 next week with 12 popular Australian celebrities set to tackle the foxtrot.
Kruger, 59, is reportedly under contract with Seven for over $1 million a year and currently hosts The Voice and Dancing With The Stars.
The TV star, who began her career as a ballroom dancer and appeared in the iconic film Strictly Ballroom, has been closely associated with the dance series since it first aired on Seven in 2004.
However, the TV star could soon be down to just one gig at Seven amid reports the upcoming season of the long-running dance competition series will be its last.
A TV insider who spoke to news.com.au claimed Seven was “tipped to axe” Dancing With The Stars because the show is too expensive to produce.
The contract, which made Kruger one of the highest-paid women in Aussie TV, also included gigs on the now-cancelled Holey Moley and Big Brother.
If true, Kruger will be down to just her hosting duties on The Voice to justify her seven figure salary, a rarity in the industry amid a massive drop in viewers and advertising revenue in free-to-air.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Seven debunked reports that Dancing With The Stars will not return to screens in 2026 and insisted “the show is not being cancelled”.
Nine gave Kruger her first on-air presenting role on the series Wonder World! in the 1990s before she moved over to Seven to work as an entertainment reporter.
In 2011, Kruger joined Nine for the second time where she hosted the morning program Mornings alongside David Campbell and its successor Today Extra, as well as Big Brother and The Voice.
Kruger was rehired by Seven in 2019 by then-CEO James Warburton, who she infamously called “God” in her Gold Logie acceptance speech.
Despite decades of experience, Kruger was only nominated for the Bert Newton Award for Most Popular Presenter at the Logie Awards for the first time in 2022.
She was first nominated for the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television in 2022 and won the top gong in 2023.
