Dancing With the Stars celebrated its 33rd season on Sunday with a For Your Consideration Emmys event in Hollywood.
Pro dancers Alan Bersten, Brandon Armstrong, Britt Stewart, Daniella Karagach, Emma Slater, Ezra Sosa, Gleb Savchenko, Pasha Pashkov, and Rylee Arnold were joined by runner-up Ilona Maher (Olympic rugby player), third-place finisher Chandler Kinney (actress and singer), and fourth-place contestant Stephen Nedoroscik (Olympic gymnast) for an afternoon of ballroom dancing at the Dolby Theatre.
Season 30's fourth-place finalist Amanda Kloots moderated the panel, which welcomed judge Derek Hough, cohost Julianne Hough, pro dancer/mirrorball champion Jenna Johnson, and The Bachelor star/mirrorball champion Joey Graziadei. Since its debut in 2005, Dancing With the Stars has been nominated for 124 Emmy Awards and won 21 trophies, including four for Derek Hough for choreography.
"I was bullied as a kid going to school for being a dancer — I was picked on," Derek told the crowd of Emmy voters and industry insiders. "And now, to go to football games, basketball games, whatever it is, and everybody is like, 'Yo, that tango was incredible, man!' — I can't tell you how much it means to me on such a deeper level. To see that little boy that grew up where dancing wasn't cool, and to see where now it's looked at as artistic athletes? I'm just thankful to this beautiful show that has elevated dance so much."
The Argentine tango went viral in Season 33 between Derek Hough and Mark Ballas, with the former explaining, "We posted a video of us dancing and rehearsing, and everybody was like, this looks kind of fun. And I was like, we should do something. It was just as simple as that, honestly, and we were again fortunate enough to have a beautiful stage to perform on, so it was really special."
Because of the success of the same-sex dance, Derek and the producers wanted to "leave the door open, leave the door ajar, for possibly something like that to be on the show in the future," he revealed. "You know, see two men dancing together, and to stretch some hearts out there that might not want to see that."
Johnson chimed in, "I danced with a girl and I loved every single second of it," as the audience cheered. She was referring to her Season 30 dance partner JoJo Siwa, who made it all the way to the runner-up position.
"Being back there and dancing, it almost reignited this passion of dance for me," said Julianne Hough, who started out as a pro dancer, then served as a judge, and now is the cohost with Alfonso Ribeiro. "I separated myself a little bit and went into film and television and music, and one of the greatest things about this family is, it's always been the throughline. It was transformative for me to have that experience, and I'm so grateful to be just among the most amazing celebrities and dancers on the show."
Julianne joked about how when fans stop her on the street, it's either a mix of, "Oh my gosh, I watch you dance every single week on the show," or, "This new generation coming up watching the show didn't know I danced." She called it a "really beautiful intersection" of DWTS fans of all ages.
When Julianne was a pro dancer, she was in "competitive mode" and would "hold space" for her partner. But when she was on the judges' panel, "It really was about fine-tuning. How do you look at this couple and give enough critique where they can take that information and move forward and progress to the next week?" Sometimes she "disagrees" with the current judges, including her brother, but what she loves about her current host role is that she feels like a "mama bear" where she gets to appreciate "all of the emotions, because it is a wild ride."
Even though Johnson won DWTS with Adam Rippon in Season 26, that was a shortened season, and she felt "cheated" out of her time with him. Cut to today, where she won with Graziadei, who was the ultimate "Cinderella story." As she explained, "I truly feel like what the show is all about is taking somebody who has no dance experience and realizing that they can do something scary, they can learn how to dance, and they can become an incredible performer." For Johnson, that was taking The Bachelor star and making him a mirrorball champion.
Graziadei recalled, "The goal we had coming in was not to win, per se, but there was never a Bachelor that made it to the finale. They always got close, made to the semis, but they weren't able to make that extra step. So, that was a goal Jenna and I put in from the beginning." In the end, he credits "everything to her," declaring the whole experience to be "uncomfortable," but that the show did its best to make all of the celebrities feel "comfortable with one another." He added, "I would not have been able to take the shots I did, have the confidence I did, without Jenna every day pushing me to the perfect amount."
Before the panel said goodbye, Derek Hough recalled how "people also wanted to see Joey with his shirt off," and Graziadei laughed, "Yeah, Jenna had that on week one. She was like, open it up. She saw the response, and then it worked its way into five other performances."
"You're welcome!" Jenna shouted at audience. The 33rd season of Dancing With the Stars is eligible at the 2025 Emmys in the reality-competition categories.
