After Jerry O’Connell replaced Sharon Osbourne as co-host, Page Six has exclusively learned that the CBS talk show is looking to fill Carrie Ann Inaba’s empty seat with a man.
“They haven’t announced it, but Carrie Ann is not returning, and they’ve been trying out comics and athletes to take her place,” a source told us.
Inaba, 53, announced in April that she would be taking a leave of absence to focus on her “health and well-being.”
However, an insider pointed out that the show’s race row involving Osbourne, 68, in March did not sit well with Inaba, who was out during the controversy.
Inaba congratulated and thanked “everyone who works on the show” when CBS announced the show’s Season 12 renewal in June, but she didn’t provide an update on her health or announce if she’d be returning. She appeared more enthusiastic in a post about the return of “Dancing with the Stars,” on which she appears as a judge.
“Bring on the ballroom. #DWTS returns to ABC September 20… I’ll be there!” she wrote in July.
Brass at “The Talk” were not pleased with her “DWTS” posts, we’re told.
A rep for Inaba did not comment.
