Jojo Siwa is returning to “So You Suppose You Can Dance” as a decide for the present’s reimagined Season 18. Siwa, who was beforehand a decide on the present’s Season 17 in 2022, replaces Nigel Lythgoe — who stepped down earlier this month within the wake of two lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault.

Siwa will now be a part of choreographer Allison Holker and professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy on the present’s judging panel. Presenter and creator Cat Deeley hosts the dance competitors collection, which premieres its 18th season on Monday, March 4 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.

Siwa is a dancer, singer and actor who boasts greater than 70 million followers throughout social media and was named one among Time’s “100 Most Influential Folks” in 2020. Siwa launched a debut EP in 2018, and is presently within the studio recording a follow-up. The performer was most just lately on Fox as a contestant on Season 2 of “Particular Forces: World’s Hardest Check.” Siwa additionally made historical past on one other dance competitors collection, ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” as a part of that present’s first same-sex couple, in Season 30.

“SYTYCD” Season 18 will proceed to function contestants competing in dance challenges, with weekly eliminations resulting in a $100,000 grand prize winner. For the primary time, the present can also be that includes new documentary-style chronicles of the contestants’ journey.

This reps the second consecutive season that Fox and the present’s producers had been pressured to swap judges after manufacturing acquired underway. In Season 17, Leah Remini was introduced in to exchange Matthew Morrison after the “Glee” alum needed to exit the judging panel over failing to comply with “competitors manufacturing protocols.” (On the time, he was reportedly sending personal messages to a contestant.)

On this case, Lythgoe — who’s an govt producer on “SYTYCD” and has been a decide because it started in 2005 — left the present after Sony Photos Tv’s 19 Leisure, which co-produces “So You Suppose You Can Dance,” has opened an investigation over the lawsuits in opposition to Lythgoe.

In a single go well with, Lythgoe was accused by Paula Abdul of groping and forcibly kissing her in an elevator about 20 years in the past. In a second lawsuit, two contestants on “All American Lady” additionally accused him of forcibly attempting to kiss them after a wrap get together in 2003.

On the time, Fox, 19 Leisure and Dick Clark Productions (which additionally produces) wrote in an announcement that the upcoming season “will proceed, though with out Nigel Lythgoe, to make sure the present stays dedicated to the contestants, who’ve labored extremely exhausting for the chance to compete on our stage.”