Will ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Have a Male-Male Pairing in Season 34? Here’s What Show Boss Says

The Season 33 finale of Dancing With the Stars featured longtime friends Derek Hough and Mark Ballas collaborating on an Argentine Tango, leading to speculation that Season 34 could feature a male celebrity dancing with a male pro. This would follow suit with the Season 30 all-female pairing of Jenna Johnson and JoJo Siwa.

“I would say we are constantly looking at the ways by which we can push the envelope and produce a show that reflects and represents society as a whole,” executive producer Ryan O’Dowd told Deadline. “So I wouldn’t rule it out. It’s something that we’re continuing to discuss.”

So far, Alix Earle and Robert Irwin have been confirmed as cast members for Season 34, but the rest of the cast and the pro partner pairings won’t be announced until closer to the fall premiere.

O’Dowd confirmed that he loves doing “things that have never been done before” on the show. Most recently, that included Ilona Maher being the first female celebrity to lift her male partner (Alan Bersten). “There was another moment when Witney Carson and Danny Amendola had this very iconic leg lift,” he added. “It’s almost like a slow motion leg lift that became this massive viral sensation and people started trying to do it [on social media]. I love when things are being done that go beyond the scope of the broadcast and into your everyday life.”

Viewers responded well to the Johnson and Siwa pairing in 2021. The women came in 2nd place, finishing behind Iman Shumpert and Daniella Karagach.

Hough, who is a judge on the show, is ready for a male-male pair in the future. “The whole concept of two men dancing together is nothing revolutionary, by any means,” he told Gold Derby. “Like I said, this is what the origins are. But it was cool to be able to see and even hear it from some people who were like, ‘You know, I didn’t really know if I wanted to see that, but after seeing that, I loved it.’ To show it and say, ‘Hey, look at this. This is kind of different.’ Or, it’s not different, but we haven’t seen this yet on this platform like this. ‘What do you think?’ And the response is, ‘I like it.’ I really thought that was really cool.”

He added, “I really enjoyed that. And that was what we wanted, too. We wanted to leave the door just open, ajar, for something in the future.”