Dancing with the Stars judge Derek Hough hopes his memorable Season 33 dance will inspire future change for the show.
Hough, who joined the panel of judges on the show several seasons ago, won DWTS multiple times as a professional dancer guiding celebrities to incredible performances.
While he’s no longer one of the pro dance partners for celebs, he still gets on the dance floor for various performances during the season.
Season 33 included several special dances featuring Hough, including an emotional performance with his wife, Hayley Erbert, to celebrate her return to dance after a rough health scare.
Hough also performed a memorable routine with his former castmate, Mark Ballas. The two former professional dancers, who have nine Mirrorball Trophy wins, wowed viewers with a same-sex performance.
He recently opened up about this being a “soft launch” for seasons down the road.
Derek spoke about the potential impact of his Season 33 dance
On the November 26 finale of Dancing with the Stars, Hough was on the dance floor with Ballas to perform a same-sex Argentine tango. According to Hough, this may have got things rolling so that more of these dances appear on DWTS.
“We wanted to soft launch the idea of two men dancing together on Dancing with the Stars, you know what I mean? It became sort of like an introduction, if you will, and left the door open a little bit for some future partnerships on the show,” Hough told Deadline.
Hough brought the idea to DWTS producers after his friend Ballas had been helping him practice for his live tour. Hough’s wife, Hayley, filmed their performances to post on social media, with fans seeming to enjoy the content.
“This hasn’t been done on the show before in 33 seasons, which is actually kind of crazy if you think about it. And we were like, you know what? It feels like one, it’s the right time,” Hough said regarding two men in a DWTS dance performance.
In Season 30, viewers saw the first same-sex partnership as celebrity JoJo Siwa partnered with Jenna Johnson. They finished second overall, creating a memorable DWTS season that may also help with future partnerships.
Hough said their dance ‘opens up a lot of opportunities’ for DWTS performances
Ballas appeared several times during Season 33, including as a guest judge. However, his and Hough’s dance during the season finale was a moment that had everyone talking.
According to Deadline, it could also earn them an Emmy nomination in choreography, which would be Ballas’s second and Hough’s 14th overall.
On the heels of their dancing together last month on DWTS, they performed again as part of Hough’s show at Inglewood’s YouTube Theater this weekend.
Hough also told Deadline that he’s had friends approached to be on DWTS who said they wouldn’t do it until they could dance with another guy.
“We wanted to be able to introduce this concept in a way that if there’s anybody out there who might feel a certain way about it, we’re like, ‘Hey, check this out.’ I think that it opens up a lot of opportunities and doors for the show to have that,” he said.
Dancing with the Stars Season 34 is TBA for ABC and Disney+.