Lorraine Kelly paid tribute to Strictly Come Dancing legend Len Goodman after his sad death.
The ITV host paused her show today to pay tribute to Len, who passed away today after a brief illness. He had reportedly been diagnosed with bone cancer and passed away in a hospice in Kent over the weekend with his family around him.
The English professional dancer quit Strictly after 12 years on the show, where he was known for his famous 'seven' score, but stayed on the US version, Dancing With The Stars for a number of years before he quit the show there too.
Returning from the break, Lorraine paused her live show to pay tribute to Len. A photo of the Strictly star was shown on screen as Lorraine Kelly broke the news, before describing him as a "smashing fellow".
"A smashing fellow, a really really good guy," she said in a tribute to him before she crossed over Andi Peters, who also had a sweet message of love to his family after news was confirmed of his sad death.
She later said it was such a shock as tributes continued to flood in.
Lorraine's ITV co-star Susanna Reid - who fronted Good Morning Britain earlier today - paid tribute to Len.
Taking to Twitter, she wrote in tribute to Len: "Oh this is such an awful shock and so sad. Len was an absolute legend & the definition of a proper gent. He was a beautiful man with a huge sense of humour who had such a mischievous turn of phrase. I’ll never forget ‘all bounce, bum & bongos’. My love to his family."
When Len quit Strictly, he was replaced by his old friend Shirley Ballas, who is still in her role today.
"In 2004, I was asked to take part in a brand new BBC Saturday night show and who would have thought me, old Len Goodman, would still be part of this amazing series more than 10 years on," Len said at the time.
"This adventure began when I was 60 and now that I've reached my 70s, I've decided after this year it's time to hand the role of Head Judge to someone else. It is an honour being part of the wonderful Strictly Come Dancing family and I'm looking forward to my last series very much and to whatever comes next. It's really nice people say we’re going to miss you and I'd rather they say that than, 'Thank God you're going'. But I've done it for 12 years. I want to spend a bit more time with my family."
He added it was "time to move on" and promised there was more to come, sharing: "I've got lots of interesting things to come, I’m sure people will ask me to do other little jobs, and I've got my granddaughter to play with. I'm going to have a lovely time."
Before he quit Dancing With The Stars, Len would spend the winter months in LA filming - and his family would come out to join him.
