Mark Ballas<\/strong><\/a> is getting back into his groove on Dancing With the Stars<\/a> \u2014 and he’s not scared of facing BFF Derek Hough<\/strong><\/a> as a judge.<\/p>\n Ballas, 39, and season 34 partner Whitney Leavitt<\/strong> earned a 15 out of 20 for their fierce tango during the Tuesday, September 16, premiere, tying with Robert Irwin<\/strong> and Witney Carson<\/strong> at the top of the leaderboard. (Performances were scored on a scale of 20 due to judge Carrie Ann Inaba<\/strong>‘s last-minute absence<\/a>.)<\/p>\n While Ballas and Leavitt’s first routine showed they’re one of the couples to beat, the returning pro is excited to see how the competition plays out.<\/p>\n “They\u2019re all my comrades and friends,” he exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, praising his fellow pro dancers. “It’s funny, I remember being Ezra [Sosa] and Rylee [Arnold]’s age here, and now, I’m like the older uncle … but I love being here. I love all these pros. This cast is great. Our staff, everyone from the band to the producers, the wardrobe, hair and makeup. This is like home for me. So I’m happy to be here.”<\/p>\n \u2018Dancing With the Stars\u2019 Season 34 Premiere Recap: Breaking Down Every Couple\u2019s Scores<\/a><\/p>\n When it comes to being critiqued by Hough, 40, this isn’t Ballas’ first rodeo. Hough was handing out scores when fans last saw Ballas compete in the DWTS ballroom<\/a> during season 31 with Charli D’Amelio<\/strong>. (They ended up winning the season.)<\/p>\n Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli<\/span> Disney\/Eric McCandless<\/span><\/p>\n On Tuesday, Hough warned that couples might see lower scores than usual while heading into the new competition.<\/p>\n “No one’s going to give it to you more accurate[ly] and more correctly than Derek,” Ballas told Us. “He’s been in our shoes. He knows what it’s like. He’s a straight shooter, and he’s also very sweet-natured and helpful, giving tips and things to work on. I love him.”<\/p>\n Ballas made his first appearance as a DWTS pro<\/a> during season 5 and has three mirrorball trophy victories under his belt. After taking home the win with D’Amelio, 21, in 2022, Ballas took a break from the ballroom. He opened up to Us earlier this month about why this season was the perfect time to make a comeback<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I had some injury stuff clear up that was kind of slowing me down,” he revealed following the season 34 cast announcement, noting that his body is “feeling good” after “hardcore” physical therapy.<\/p>\n Alfonso Ribeiro Breaks Down How \u2018Dancing With the Stars\u2019 Routines Are Scored After Live Flub<\/a><\/p>\n Ballas’ family also played a role in getting him back on the dance floor. He welcomed son Banski in 2023 with wife BC Jean<\/strong>.<\/p>\n “I also am a new dad and I really am excited for my son to see [me] do this,” the choreographer told Us. “I love the show and I’ve been able to perform on it a couple times since I stopped. I got to do the awesome tango with Derek, me and Charli did a victory lap. I got to guest judge last year. … I’m like, ‘I think I got a couple more in the tank.’ I want my son to watch me do this. Excited to be back.”<\/p>\n Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n Prove your DWTS fandom with Us Weekly and Bracketology.tv<\/a>! Compete against other fans and Us editors in the Bracketology DWTS fantasy league<\/a> this season to predict which pairs will make it to the finale for season 34. Get access to exclusive content, stats and a chance to win prizes. Join the league for free<\/a> today!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark Ballas is getting back into his groove on Dancing With the Stars \u2014 and he’s not scared of facing BFF Derek Hough as a judge. Ballas, 39, and season 34 partner Whitney Leavitt earned a 15 out of 20 for their fierce tango during the Tuesday, September 16, premiere, tying with Robert Irwin and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2030101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[344312,41508,343995,344314,359955],"class_list":["post-2030100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-carrie-ann-inaba","tag-dancing-with-the-stars","tag-derek-hough","tag-mark-ballas","tag-whitney-leavitt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mark-Ballas-Reflects-on-\u2018Dancing-With-the-Stars-Return-Praises.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2030100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2030100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2030101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2030100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2030100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2030100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span><\/div>\n