A familiar face is returning to Dancing with the Stars in season 32. The Hollywood Reporter shares that Julianne Hough will take over as co-host along with Alfonso Ribeiro following last week’s surprise announcement that Tyra Banks was exiting the show.
Hough has been a fixture of the dancing competition since season 4 when she joined the show as a professional dancer and subsequently won the Mirrorball Trophy in her debut season and in season 5 with celebrity partners Apolo Ohno and Hélio Castroneves, respectively.
It will be a Hough family affair in season 32 as Hough's brother, Derek, is taking over as a judge following original judge Len Goodman announcing his departure last season. Derek will be seated at the judges' table with Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.
Derek's not the only Hough sibling with judging experience. Julianne sat at the Dancing with the Stars judges' table from 2014 to 2017; she was also a judge on America’s Got Talent season 14. Her work on Dancing has earned her three nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography; out of the three nominations, she won in 2015 with her brother.
Though Hough is known for her incredible dancing, she also has enjoyed a career as an actress, both on the big screen and on Broadway. She appeared in Footloose, Rock of Ages and Safe Haven, and she also starred as Sandy in the Fox live television production of Grease. Her theater debut came in 2022 with POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive.
Dancing with the Stars will once again return to Disney Plus for season 32 after leaving ABC last spring. The move was met with criticism from longtime fans who didn't want to follow the show into the streaming sphere; once the show debuted fans agreed that it was nice not having to sit through commercials. Now airing live coast to coast, Dancing with the Stars looked great in its new home, but it needed an intermission.
There is currently no premiere date for Dancing with the Stars season 32, but an announcement should be made soon.
