DWTS Returns to ABC With Julianne Hough as Co-Host

Published: August 23, 2023

DWTS Returns to ABC With Julianne Hough as Co-Host

By Movieguide® Contributor

DANCING WITH THE STARS (DTWS) will return to ABC for season 32 after a short stint of exclusive streaming on Disney+, with former judge Julianne Hough as a co-host.

“When the idea of coming back to host came around, it was truly a full circle moment. I’ve now been a part of the show in every role — being a professional dancer to judge to now hosting,” Hough told Variety.

Hough will serve as a co-host with season 31 host Alfonso Ribeiro. The duo are excited to work together.

Ribeiro told Entertainment Tonight, “Very excited to have her joining me. Our chemistry, I think, is going to be fantastic. We’ve known each other for so long. She was a judge on my season.”

“Our energy just feels so right,” he continued. “We sat and had lunch and two-and-a-half hours later we’re going, ‘I guess we should go home and do stuff.’ And I think that that kind of chemistry and friendship is going to come through on the show to the audience.”

Hough echoed similar sentiments, “The friendships that are made here are lifelong. It feels like it’s just gonna be like a peek into our friendship and our lives. With this season specifically, we are all so close. We’ve been friends for over 10 years. It’s like the ‘Friends’ cast. We’re going to be friends for the rest of our lives.”

The News reported, “Hough debuted as a professional dancer on DWTS in 2007. She left after two seasons of victories in 2009. She left again in 2017, having returned in 2014 to serve as a judge.”

Ribeiro won season 19 of DTWS, the same season that Hough served as a judge on the show.

Movieguide® previously wrote about DTWS’s network switch. The show moved to Disney+ so that the platform could have its first live series and expand to more demographics. According to Ribeiro, DTWS had so much success on Disney+ that its parent network decided to pull it back and maintain the show’s momentum on ABC.