The Rumors Are True, Dancing With The Stars Is Getting A Spin-Off
After months of rumors, Dancing with the Stars just confirmed that a new spin-off is on the way.
We first heard whispers about this spin-off at the beginning of the year. It was reported to be named Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, and Season 34’s champion, Robert Irwin, was rumored to be the host.
Those early reports also claimed that DWTS pro Mark Ballas and his mother, Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, would serve as the spin-off’s judges.
Turns out, all of those rumors were true!
ABC confirmed on Wednesday (April 22nd) that Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro will debut this summer. According to a press release, the series will premiere on ABC at 8 PM ET on July 13th, with the episode being available to stream on Hulu the following day.
The press release states that the spin-off will highlight “12 exceptional up-and-coming dancers who move into one house and compete in a grueling audition process.” The winner of the show will receive a spot as a pro dancer on Season 35 of DWTS.
Additionally, the press release confirmed that Robert Irwin will host and that Mark and Shirley Ballas will serve as judges. Also, “a star-studded lineup of returning pros” will serve as mentors and guest judges throughout the competition.
Those pros, and the contestants themselves, will be revealed at a later time. Although former pro
Kym Johnson-Herjavec has already confirmed she’ll appear as a guest judge on the show!
Catch a preview of the competition in the video below.
Robert Irwin Speaks About Hosting The New Dancing With The Stars Show
The Dancing with the Stars spin-off was officially announced at Hulu’s “Get Real House” event on April 22nd. Shirley Ballas and Robert Irwin appeared onstage to speak about the new series.
“He is the most amazing host I’ve ever worked with in my entire life,” Shirley said, embracing a grateful Robert.
“It has been such an honor to step back into the Dancing with the Stars world,” Robert said. “Dancing with the Stars has changed my life, and honestly, we, the stars, could not do it without the most incredible pros giving everything to their partner every single season.“
From there, Robert recognized his professional partner, Witney Carson. The camera panned to show the pro dancer beaming with pride in the audience.
“Oh crikey, this is gonna be fun,” Robert exclaimed.
Then, Robert described how filming finished in half the time it takes to produce a regular season of DWTS. “I’m telling you, this is a pressure cooker,” he said.
Check out the video below to hear Shirley Ballas and Robert Irwin speak more about the upcoming Dancing with the Stars spin-off. We cleared our schedules for July 13th!