Derek Hough Makes A Major Confession About His Early ‘DWTS’ Days
Every star has to begin their journey somewhere. Most of our favorite Dancing With The Stars pros got their start on other shows like So You Think You Can Dance, or other smaller dance competitions across the globe.
Dancing With The Stars legend Derek Hough recently made quite a surprising confession about his early days on the show. He definitely had to work hard to get where he is today, but it wasn’t the easiest journey.
Derek Hough has a long history with the show but admits he was really nervous in his younger days
It only makes sense that pros feel uncertain when they’re brand new to the show. Derek Hough joined DWTS as a pro dancer at 22 back in 2007. That had to feel intimidating!
“I definitely look back at my approach to the show. In my earlier seasons, I was nervous, and I was uncertain,” the youngest DWTS judge said on a recent episode of the Whine Down podcast. “I was kind of faking it, to be honest with you. I wasn’t really a teacher or choreographer.”
He quickly began to rack up Mirrorball Trophy wins and felt the pressure.
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“I definitely would get more frustrated easier in my earlier seasons. I look back at some of my earlier seasons, thinking, ‘Man, I wish I knew then what I know now,’” the 36-year-old dancer went on to say. He added that he definitely wished he was a better teacher, but his teaching abilities came later on in his career.
Would you have ever guessed that he felt this way?
Hough returns as a judge to DWTS Season 30 alongside Len Goodman
For a while, no one was sure if Len Goodman would ever return to Dancing With The Stars. Many felt sure that Derek Hough would be his permanent replacement. But ahead of Season 30, we know that both will sit behind the judges’ table with Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba this fall.
As time goes on, Derek feels that it’s gotten easier to appear on the show, even with the pressure of a live taping.
“It’s definitely a lot easier, that’s for sure. Dancing of course is harder. Being on the show for 17 seasons I did [all] that [hard work]. There’s all different experiences, triumphs and failures and all the things I could have possibly thought of,” Derek continued. “I will say it’s a lot harder — when I was judging on World of Dance it was pretaped [which is easier]. Dancing With the Stars is live, once your time is up that’s it. Being a coach and being a teacher, I really want to give an actual note.”
Dancing With The Stars returns for Season 30 on September 20 on ABC. Don’t forget to tune in and cheer for your favorite dancers!
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