Derek Hough isn’t ruling out an all-winners season of Dancing With the Stars. Hough competed on 17 seasons of the ABC dance competition show, managing to win the Mirrorball Trophy six times before being brought back as a judge, and he looks forward to the future of the show ahead of its upcoming 32nd season this fall on ABC and Disney+.
While no plans have been announced to air a season full of past Mirrorball winners in the aftermath of Season 32, Hough assumes conversations about that possibility have been had, and he called the concept a “fantastic” way to shake things up. The DWTS judge told Variety, “I think that it’d be a really, really competitive season,” listing former partners Bindi Irwin and Nicole Scherzinger as competitors he’d love to see return in an all-winners season. Hough added, “I think Rashad Jennings would love to come back. Donny Osmond, I know he’d probably love to come back too. Even Jordan Fisher, who was fantastic.”
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As for Dancing With the Stars host Alfonso Ribeiro, who walked away with the Mirrorball on his own season as a competitor, Hough said there’s no possibility of his competing in an all-winner season. “No, not now,” he confirmed. “Alfonso’s a host now, so he can’t come back!”
What’s more likely is that Dancing With the Stars hosts another all-stars season like Season 15, in which former non-winners return for another shot at the Mirrorball. “When I did the all-star season with Shawn Johnson, we ended up coming in second,” said Hough. “That was honestly one of my favorite seasons, and I was so devastated.” In a second potential all-stars season, Hough said he would love to see “some of the OGs” like Season 3 runner-up Mario Lopez or his Season 18 partner Amy Purdy.
As for Hough himself, he hasn’t totally ruled out returning to the dance floor as a competitor. “I feel like I’ve done that: I really squeezed the juice out of that you, if you will. I love being a judge,” he said. “I never say never because at the end of the day, I love to entertain, I love to perform and if it is something that audiences want to see… never say never.”
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