{"id":2177323,"date":"2025-11-26T04:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T04:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2177323"},"modified":"2025-11-26T04:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T04:33:08","slug":"dancing-with-the-stars-host-julianne-hough-reflects-on-season-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/dancing-with-the-stars-host-julianne-hough-reflects-on-season-34\/","title":{"rendered":"Dancing With The Stars Host Julianne Hough Reflects On Season 34"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tA record-breaking season of Dancing with the Stars<\/a> will come to an end on Tuesday night with a three-hour finale that, for the first time, will include three live dance rounds for the remaining five couples to compete in.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeason 34 has been one for the history books, catapulting the ballroom dance competition series to its best audience in years<\/a> while also setting fan voting records each and every week. It also happens to be the year that Dancing with the Stars is celebrating two decades on air. <\/p>\n

\n\tHost Julianne Hough<\/a> has been there for most of them. She joined the DWTS family in 2007 as a pro dancer at just 18 years old, and she won her first two seasons. Since then, she has also been a judge and, now, a host. In an interview with Deadline, Hough reflected on Season 34, how far the show has come in 20 years, and what it felt like to step on that ballroom floor for the anniversary episode.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were not blowing up this season because we\u2019re a new show,\u201d she tells Deadline. \u201cThis has been around for 20 years of people putting so much time and energy and effort and sacrifice into it, and so I think I was just overwhelmed by just the magnitude of how much the show has changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRead the rest of the interview below, where Hough also weighs in on the departure of Mark Ballas and Whitney Leavitt on Prince Night<\/a>, the online discourse this season, and Tuesday night\u2019s three-hour finale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: This season has been such a fun one to watch. What\u2019s it like to have been part of it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tJULIANNE HOUGH: <\/strong>The fact that this show has been around for 20 years, and this season is bigger than it\u2019s ever been, and the way people are invested, I mean, I will say it felt like this back when I was on the show in Season 4 in the sense that, like, people would have watch parties, they would watch it live on TV with their families and stuff like that. But then, the world changed so much. So it has that same nostalgic feeling, but even blown up 100 times, because everybody\u2019s watching on social media. Everybody\u2019s a commentator now. Everybody\u2019s creating their own content surrounding the show. So it\u2019s like it has the same nostalgic feeling that I felt when I was 18, but like, blown up in a way that I can\u2019t even comprehend, truly.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: What do you think has fueled this surge in interest around the show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>I mean, logistically and just age wise, I think that the generation of people that were having kids back when it started, [those kids are] all in their \u201920s now, and so they\u2019re catching a wave, and I think with TikTok and everything, dance has become so popular. On the emotional, spiritual level, I will say that it\u2019s one of the few shows that are on TV right now that promote goodness. I mean, I\u2019ve seen so many people comment on it. It\u2019s not a political show. It\u2019s all about transformation and supporting each other, watching people progress and grow as human beings and dancers. It feels like a family. It\u2019s this thing that is bringing people together in a way that, I think, [we need] more than ever. We obviously are so separated, and this is like a unifying thing that we can all relate, bond, and feel like we have in common with each other. So that\u2019s my deep answer, but I think, on just a surface level, it\u2019s a feel good show that we don\u2019t have a lot of. I think with this specific like competition show too, there are other competition shows that you\u2019re expected to be the best every single week, like a singing competition. Whereas Dancing with the Stars, it\u2019s about taking somebody that\u2019s not an expert and building them up. So it\u2019s about the journey. If you look at life, it is about the journey, it\u2019s about the growth and the process. So I think people are experiencing something within their own lives by watching this show. I know that\u2019s super deep.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: You and Derek have both been part of the show for so long. You got quite emotional during the opening of the 20th anniversary show. What did it mean to you to be part of that episode, specifically?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>Well, I think I\u2019m pretty sensitive energetically, and so being in that room with with all these alumni [and former] Dancing with the Stars contestants in this room, and just the build up in anticipation, with it being the biggest season it\u2019s ever been, there was just so much energy in that room that day and and that was a really special number that my brother choreographed. The intention that went behind it, [with] all the original pros, and then there was a moment to highlight Len at the judges\u2019 table, then to bring out Tom, who has been like the staple of the show for so many years \u2014 and I have so much reverence over the fact that I\u2019ve been able to be a dancer, be a judge, and be a co-host. I think I was just overwhelmed by the fact that this show has not just raised me as a kid into a 37-year-old, but it\u2019s given me an opportunity to actually grow and change and try new things and has been supportive of it, and it\u2019s allowed me to step into different roles. So I think there was just a lot of reverence\u2026of bringing Tom back and just paying respect to everybody who built this show. We were not blowing up this season because we\u2019re a new show. This has been around for 20 years of people putting so much time and energy and effort and sacrifice into it, and so I think I was just overwhelmed by just the magnitude of how much the show has changed my life.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Whenever I\u2019ve visited the show, I\u2019m always impressed by how much goes on behind the scenes. Now that you have been a pro, judge and host, how do you feel like that\u2019s given you perspective on just how much on an undertaking this show is?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>Well, I think that the unsung heroes are our crew, in the sense that they don\u2019t get the external applause because we don\u2019t see them, but what they\u2019re doing behind the scenes is choreography. It is a dance. They are turning sets over in under three minutes during a commercial break that people would be losing their minds if they saw what they were doing. The lighting directors, the people that have to clear music every week \u2014 I mean, that job is really hard to get all those songwriters to sign off \u2014 the costume designers, the hair and makeup. I mean, this show, it looks like a perfect package, because it is. It\u2019s everybody being an expert in what they do and knowing that the show as a whole is the success, not one person being the star, if that makes sense.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Speaking of this idea of being part of a team, I love that you and Alfonso joined the team dances this year. How was that experience for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>Oh my gosh, that was hard for me. I\u2019m not gonna lie. When you\u2019re immersed in something, you have the momentum, and you\u2019re, like, in it, right? When you just pop somebody in, I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t have any say here, because I\u2019m not competing, but it\u2019s what I\u2019ve done my whole life. I\u2019m a competitor,.I am a choreographer. I\u2019m a creative director. All these things that I do\u2026I really I have to bite my tongue here. So, just as a funny thing, it was hard for me, but it was obviously very fun for me to be a part of, just to be on the dance floor again with the dancers and seeing them in rehearsal. Maybe it was a good thing for me to be able to chill out and relax and give the control over.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Christopher Willard<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Is it something you\u2019d be open to doing again next season?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>I mean, any time the producers call for us to be a part of something, I\u2019m always like, \u2018put me in coach,\u2019 because it\u2019s such an honor to do anything on the show. Yeah, that one was hard for me\u2026but again, I had so much fun, and I loved being in the room. That was more of my own personal issues. [Laughs].<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: That\u2019s fair. I mean, there are multiple pros working together to choreograph each of those team dances. I\u2019m sure there are a lot of opinions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>I just give credit to all of them. Again, like I said, they\u2019re in the competition, so they\u2019re immersed, so they have the momentum. They\u2019re already in it, and so they know how to work with each other, etc. I\u2019m like, I haven\u2019t been on that dance floor, competed or put a number together with another group of people in 10 [to] 15 years. So it was just a funny exercise for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Have there been any dances this season that have stood out to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>I mean, this season, the standard has been so high, and I\u2019m so impressed and proud of our pros for their choreography. Daniella [Karagach] is one of my favorite choreographers. She just always finds these really fun moments that, obviously, can go viral, but that are so creative and unique, but also have her spin on it. She definitely has a signature, and you know it\u2019s a Daniella move. Mark Ballas\u2019 choreography is so rhythmic and quirky and musical, because he\u2019s a musician, and his brain thinks not just as in, like \u2018I\u2019m choreographing a dance, but I\u2019m creating an entire universe and a storyline and everything\u2019 from the little musical moments that he\u2019ll add to the song. There are certain pros that elevate their performances through what they add to the production and the music and stuff like that, and Mark is definitely one of those pros. I mean, I\u2019m so sad that [he and Whitney Leavitt] didn\u2019t get to go to the finale for the sheer fact of their freestyle, of what they were going to do. They have to figure out a way to do this number, because it was going to be epic. The music was incredible. I mean, it was amazing. I\u2019m trying to think of specific ones [I liked]. I loved Dylan [Efron] and Daniella\u2019s Argentine tango.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: That Argentine tango was definitely a highlight.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>I think so too. I remember watching it in rehearsal, and I literally screamed, because I was like, \u2018Yes, he got his butt under!\u2019 This whole time, that\u2019s been either a note from the judges or just what I picked up on. He just really locked in. That was such a fun moment, and that dance was epic. I mean, I loved Mark and Whitney\u2019s Halloween dance. I thought that was fantastic. Robert [Irwin], anything that he does, he\u2019s just so embodied and so every limb of his body is connected, and it\u2019s filled with energy. So it\u2019s like everything he does is full out. Whereas, some of the other competitors, it\u2019s like they have energy, and then it kind of drops, and then they go into something else, and they have their great legs, or they go into arms. But Robert\u2026it\u2019s all filled out in his entire body. So, just anything he does, I think, is super powerful. And Alix [Earle], I loved her Ginger Rogers number from two weeks ago, that was beautiful.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Going back to Mark and Whitney, that elimination felt very premature. What\u2019s going through your mind, having been a judge and a pro, when it feels like someone is sent home far too soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>Well, I mean, it kind of goes in both directions, right? People can stay on longer than you think that they should, and then people leave earlier than you think they should. That\u2019s part of the voting. I think that, because 50% of the vote is fan base, and then the other is for the judges scores, in Mark and Whitney\u2019s case specifically, I mean, they were just torn apart this whole season by social media and there was just so much noise around them as a partnership and favoritism and all sorts of things. People really created a thing to, I don\u2019t know\u2026they didn\u2019t want them to be in the in it. I mean, and not everybody, but there was a certain group of people that really didn\u2019t want them in there, and so they were banding together to get them off, is what I\u2019ve heard. I mean, I\u2019m not totally in the know on everything, but that\u2019s what I\u2019ve heard. So as a pro [and] as a celebrity, you can kind of feel \u2014 energetically, again \u2014 you can kind of feel like when it\u2019s your time to go, even if it\u2019s not the right time. You can just feel it in the air. I think they even said it. They just had a feeling they were going to go that week. So, yeah, it\u2019s sad, especially because you feel like it\u2019s a personal attack\u2026I\u2019m a Whitney fan, and so I feel very sad for her, specifically, and how much hate she\u2019s been getting, especially because I think it\u2019s not called for at all. I mean, I don\u2019t think anybody should get that kind of hate. It was just petty, catty stuff, and that\u2019s just unfair.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I really enjoyed Whitney this season. I\u2019m interested to see what she does next.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>I mean, when I tell you the first day we met, I was like, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re a star.\u2019 I can\u2019t wait to see what happens. by the way, I commented on a post [to defend her]. I\u2019m like, \u2018What am I doing?\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: It\u2019s hard not to get sucked into online conversation. It gets the best of all of us at times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>We all get sucked in because they were saying, like, it\u2019s bad to be ambitious. And I was like, What are you talking about? Anybody who\u2019s on that show is ambitious. <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Eric McCandless<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: When you see this kind of online chatter, is there anything you wish that general audiences knew about what goes into being on this show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>First of all, it is the most vulnerable experience anybody can go through, not because you\u2019re getting filmed and you\u2019re getting exposed by all of the things, but when your body is put through the amount of stress, working out and exertion, you\u2019re already at a lower level of emotional state to hold it all together, right? It\u2019s like how some people talk about how [on] The Bachelor everybody drinks, and so then they start talking, right? Instead of that, it\u2019s like your body is so worn down that you can\u2019t hold your emotions together. So all your vulnerabilities come out. You are so exposed. You have this person, your partner, who is there to hold your hand and walk you through what\u2019s happening every single week, and being your your friend, your supporter. So when people start coming not just at you, but your partner and your partner\u2019s families and stuff like that, now you\u2019ve got two people that are vulnerable and exposed. It\u2019s a really hard, I think, thing emotionally, and I definitely have seen that this season, specifically. One of the things that even Al [Ribeiro] and I really talked about, we\u2019re like, \u2018Okay, we\u2019re not going to engage in the external, but we\u2019re going to put a little bubble of protection around our family and be like, nobody can penetrate. We\u2019re gonna hold them in our arms.\u2019 They always have a safe place for to go to, so that when the pros or the celebs are having a hard time, they know they can reach out to us. They can reach out to the producers [too]. It really is a safe family. <\/p>\n

\n\tSo, as much as it\u2019s been a hard thing, it\u2019s also the thing that\u2019s making the show so great. It\u2019s the polarizing conversations and people talking about it. So it\u2019s like, you don\u2019t want it to go away, because it\u2019s keeping people interested. But it does affect people. People are human, and it\u2019s hard to be picked apart personally and not just for your dancing skills, for who you are as a person, that\u2019s really hard\u2026I think that there\u2019s also something really magical about you having something to go to every single day that you know you\u2019re making progress on. Life is about that. Life is about progress and journeys and growth and and having these little victories every day. So, yeah, there\u2019s this structure for people when they go into the show that makes them come alive in a way that is a safe place for them to explore the fullness of who they are.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: What are you most looking forward to in the finale?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>I mean, they\u2019re doing three dances this year. What I loved about this season, and the last couple, to be honest, but this season, specifically, versus, I don\u2019t know, a few years ago is, I feel like the competitive side got a little bit soft, in the sense that people were competitive, but they were like, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re just happy to be here.\u2019 And by the way, everybody\u2019s happy to be there, but I think people are pretty competitive. They want to win. There\u2019s some really great people this season, that it could go in different directions, you know? I can feel and see the excitement turned on, and the focus from a lot of the pros being very, very specific about like, what are they going to do for their freestyle? Again, these pros are just phenomenal. I have to give every single one of them their flowers. They work so hard, and they\u2019re so intentional, and this is their body of work. It\u2019s not just like, do a dance every week. It\u2019s like, this is their creativity from their brain, from their body. They\u2019ve created this every single week. The celebrities get to perform it, but the pros have created it. I\u2019m so wildly impressed with them\u2026People want this, people want to win. A few years ago, in kind of life and society, everybody sort of got the participation award, you know? The pendulum kind of swung that way, and I think it\u2019s kind of coming back a little bit where it\u2019s like, no, no, it\u2019s okay to win. Everybody can still have a good time and support each other, but also, like, I want to win. And I think that\u2019s what\u2019s kind of happened this season, specifically.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I do think this season has been a balance of having ambition without putting others down in the process.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHOUGH: <\/strong>The thing is it\u2019s not about winning to beat others. It\u2019s about feeling that you put everything out there on the table and gave it your best, and you\u2019re not going to regret that you could have done more.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Dancing with the Stars three-hour Season 34 finale airs Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET\/PT on ABC<\/a>.<\/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 deadline.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A record-breaking season of Dancing with the Stars will come to an end on Tuesday night with a three-hour finale that, for the first time, will include three live dance rounds for the remaining five couples to compete in. Season 34 has been one for the history books, catapulting the ballroom dance competition series to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2177324,"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":[24120,41508,344311],"class_list":["post-2177323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-abc","tag-dancing-with-the-stars","tag-julianne-hough"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Dancing-With-The-Stars-Host-Julianne-Hough-Reflects-On-Season.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177323","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=2177323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2177325,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177323\/revisions\/2177325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2177324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2177323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2177323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2177323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}