Fans of dancing darling Julianne Hough should be excited about the most recent rumors we've been hearing all morning. Several sites are speculating that the actress might be returning to ABC’s long-running reality competition series, Dancing with the Stars. If the rumors hold true, Hough would not be returning as a professional dancer on the series; instead, she’d take a gig as a judge on the show.
Julianne Hough was once the darling of Dancing with the Stars. She joined the series well before her brother, Derek, ever won a mirrorball trophy and knocked out two season wins in a row, partnering opposite Apollo Anton Ohno and Helio Castroneves. A few short seasons later, Hough left to pursue a showbiz career and did well for a while, putting out some albums and even managing to headline Rock of Ages and Footloose. Unfortunately, neither of those flicks were large box office successes; Rock of Ages was, in fact, a disaster and it seems like Hough is now willing to pursue a judging career on the show that made her famous. While ABC and Hough have not confirmed the gig, it does seems to be a pretty good fit for the dancer-turned-actress. According to TMZ, Hough would only be committed to the show a few hours a week, which would allow her to take acting roles on the side, as well.
The question, then, would be whether or not Hough would be a good fit to judge the show. She popped up as a guest judge last spring, and did a valid job of critiquing the contestants and professional dancers who appeared. More importantly, however, she seemed genuinely excited about returning to the series in a different capacity and was totally comfortable on camera doing something different. Here’s what she had to say about the experience at the time.
In her short guest stint, she did criticize longtime contestant Maksim Chmerkovskiy, which didn’t go over well with everyone on social media. However, it's not a judges job to please but rather to critique, and she did a pretty fine job of it. Hopefully, with a little more practice, she will really settle into the role. First, she needs to be officially committed, and we’ll let you know if and when that does happen.
In the meantime, Dancing with the Stars is expected to return to ABC’s schedule on Monday, September 15 at 8 p.m. ET. You can check out the rest of the fall network schedule, here.
