‘Dancing With the Stars’ Legend Open to Returning as Judge

Dancing With the Stars pro alum Karina Smirnoff may be testing the waters in the film industry, but Smirnoff reveals she may be interested in returning to the show in a new role. In her interview with Parade, the choreographer opened up about her thoughts on Derek Hough stepping up as a judge and shares she’s open to judging the series one day. “I think he’s fantastic as a judge. He was fantastic on World of Dance with Jennifer Lopez. He did a fantastic job there,” she said of Hough while promoting her new film Tango Shalom. “I would definitely enjoy judging. I don’t know if I would go back as a dancer. I think there’s a right time in life for everything. But I think Derek is as fantastic as a judge as he was amazing as a dancer.”

Smirnoff worked on the show for 11 years and won season 13 with her partner J.R. Martinez. “I went to Dancing with the Stars when my competitive career was on the very top. I did it because when you’re in the race to win the Worlds, what we call our Olympic medal, you don’t usually take time off to do other projects. But I was in a place where I thought, ‘I want to do it for at least one season.’ I had a lot of my friends on the show—Tony Dovolani and Maksim Chmerkovskiy—and I remember everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you’ve got to do it.’ And I thought, ‘Why not? I can take a few months off.’ And then next thing I know, 11 years I’m still doing the show.”

“I think the show actually revived ballroom dancing. I know right now the show is heading maybe a slightly different direction and there are a lot of other styles that are coming into play, not necessarily ballroom,” she added of the show’s legacy. “But for the ballroom industry, it was always in the front row of any movie, any musical with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly or Cyd Charisse, and then somehow, it became a social affinity for people who want to have something to do after work.”