An all-winner Dancing with the Stars season would be incredibly competitive and fun to watch.
Derek Hough agrees that an all-winner season would be great for the show, which is returning to ABC next season after a very unpopular move to Disney+.
Derek knows a little something about what works for DWTS, too, after competing for 17 seasons as a professional dancer and winning six Mirror Ball Trophies — more than any other DWTS pro.
He also has ties to the show regarding his sister, Julianne Hough, who started as a pro dancer and will now co-host alongside Alfonso Ribiero following Tyra Banks’ exit.
The six-time winner recently admitted that there had been chatter behind the scenes about an all-winner season, which would be the equivalent of an all-stars season of the hit dance competition.
Not only that, but Derek has a list of who he’d like to see do a show of all winners, and he’s also shared who he doesn’t want to see return.
Derek Hough’s wishlist for DWTS all-winner season
Derek, who is now a DWTS judge, told Variety that he loves the idea of an all-winner season of the show. It’s not going to be the upcoming season, as we’ve already learned some of the celebrities who will be joining the Season 32 cast, which begins airing in the fall.
But we’re hoping something like this happens soon because he’s right, it would be very competitive and probably a lot of fun to watch.
Regarding who he would want to see compete, Derek shared, “I think Rashad Jennings would love to come back. Donny Osmond, I know he’d probably love to come back too. Even Jordan Fisher, who was fantastic.”
He also mentioned Bindi Irwin and Nicole Scherzinger as dancers he’d like to see back, and that’s a good thing since he won alongside them.
Nobody asked us, but we’d also love to see Kristi Yamaguchi, Jennifer Grey, Hannah Brown, and Iman Shumpert lace their dancing shoes back up.
When it comes to who he doesn’t think should return for an all-winner season, even though he is a winner would be Alfonso Ribiero. And his reasoning isn’t shady. In fact, it makes perfect sense. Alfonso is a co-host of the show now so, like Derek, he’s been promoted.
It doesn’t look like Derek would want to compete on a show like that either, even if the best of the best return. While he didn’t flat out refuse, Derek said, “I feel like I’ve done that: I really squeezed the juice out of that you, if you will. I love being a judge. I never say never because at the end of the day, I love to entertain, I love to perform and if it is something that audiences want to see… Never say never.”
What to know about Season 32 of Dancing with the Stars
One of the best things about Season 32 of Dancing with the Stars is that it will be back on ABC after a controversial move to Disney+ for just one season.
Sadly, Len Goodman passed away in April, so he won’t be there to lead the judges. He’s not replaceable either, which means we’ll only have three judges next season — Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli.
Regarding the pro dancers, we said goodbye after the last season to Cheryl Burke and Mark Ballas, who have retired their pro dancing shoes, with Mark preferring to go out on top as he won the last season with Charli D’Amelio.
Ariana Madix has already announced her plans to compete when Dancing with the Stars returns to ABC this fall. That was a no-brainer after she shot to fame amid the Scandoval drama on Vanderpump Rules.
The rest of the cast hasn’t been revealed yet and won’t be until mid-September before the season premiere.
Dancing with the Stars returns to Monday nights this fall on ABC.