Derek Hough and Mark Ballas had a headline-making moment on the Dancing With the Stars Season 33 finale when they teamed up to perform an Argentine Tango together.
And now the judge and six-time Mirrorball champ, who faced some criticisms for his judging this season, is admitting that he was hopeful it would have an impact on the show in the future.
Hough partnered with Ballas, his best friend who credited him with helping him get through his wife’s miscarriage, to perform a charged routine on the same ballroom floor where just weeks prior, he and his wife Hayley Erbert pdanced after her health scare last year.
The pair’s routine was a major moment on the show, as it showed the two male pros dancing together.
Now they are both opening up about the meaning behind the dance.
Speaking to Deadline, Hough admitted he was hopeful it would serve as a means of opening the door for same-sex male partnerships on the show.
“We wanted to soft launch the idea of two men dancing together on Dancing With the Stars, you know what I mean?” he said. “I 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, who has the largest number of Mirrorball wins on the show with six, and Ballas, who is tied for second most with three wins (a record he shares with Val Chmerkovskiy), were hopeful opening that door could allow for a more diverse pool of contestants.
Hough admitted that he’s known people who have rejected the show before because they couldn’t dance with a male partner.
“It’s funny. I actually have a few friends who have been approached to be on the show and they’ve actually said, ‘well, I don’t want to do it until I can dance with another guy.’” Hough said.
“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.”
While the show technically did have a male/male partnering during Season 31, with drag queen Shangela and Gleb Savchenko teaming up, Shangela always performed in character and dressed as a woman.
The pair made it to the finals, coming in fourth.
The only other same sex partnership on the show came one season prior, when JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson teamed up and danced together, where they placed second.
