Derek Hough shared with Us Weekly some exclusive details about how the latest addition to Dancing With the Stars will bring fresh excitement to the upcoming season.
“I believe it will be a delightful surprise for the show’s fans,” revealed the 40-year-old DWTS judge to Us Weekly during the Disney upfronts on Tuesday, May 12. “It will offer a unique perspective on what it truly takes to be a professional dancer and perform with celebrities in various creative ways.”
Just ahead of the launch of DWTS’s 35th season, viewers can look forward to the spinoff series, Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, airing on ABC. This show will spotlight 12 dancers vying for the coveted position of the newest DWTS professional. The reigning mirrorball winner, Robert Irwin, will take on hosting duties, while Mark Ballas and his mother, Shirley Ballas, will serve as judges.
Hough, who has maintained a long-standing friendship with the Ballas family, expressed his enthusiasm, noting that viewers will have an opportunity to become acquainted with Shirley.
The Dancing With the Stars stage is set to expand with the introduction of an innovative spinoff series. ABC announced on Wednesday, April 22, that Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro will premiere this summer, searching for the next standout professional dancer for the main show. “Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro showcases 12 outstanding and emerging dancers…”
“Shirley Ballas is an absolute icon in the ballroom, in [the] Latin [ballroom] world, she is the best,” he gushed. “And so she’s also like my mom.”
Shirley, 65, is known in the ballroom community as the “Queen of Latin” and currently serves as the head judge on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in England. Hough added that he was also once trained by Shirley.
“I’m excited for America to meet her,” he said. “She’s a riot.”
Last month, Disney dropped the trailer for Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro.
“For the first time in Dancing with the Stars history, the greatest dancers will compete for a spot as the next pro,” Irwin, 22, said in a trailer. “This summer, let the fiercest dance battle begin.”
While fans await for both DWTS shows, three contestants have been announced for season 35. Summer House’s Ciara Miller and Love Island’s Maura Higgins were the first batch of stars announced. Earlier this week, Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson was added to the mix.
Dancing With the Stars season 35 may be a few months away, but executives are working on “every single part of it.” “We’re deep into it,” executive producer and casting head Deena Katz told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday, April 26. “We’re already deep into casting, we’re talking themes — we’re talking everything.” Earlier this […]
Hough gushed to Us that the season 35 cast is “fantastic” so far and there would be “more to come.”
“I have some connections here and with some of these people,” he teased. “It’s gonna be a good cast, [a] really good cast.”
The pro dancers for season 35 have yet to be announced. However, Miller is already lobbying for a particular partner.
“I’ve been campaigning for Val [Chmerkovskiy],” Miller told E! News during the Met Gala livestream in May. “I don’t know if they hear me, but yeah, sending out some emails, putting my word in. We’ll see where everyone wants to place me.”