ABC Julianne Hough is returning to the "Dancing With the Stars" ballroom.
Fan-favorite former “Dancing With the Stars” pro and judge Julianne Hough is returning to the ballroom for the season 30 finale. The star is stepping in for her brother, Derek Hough, on the judging panel for the night.
According to Entertainment Tonight, Julianne Hough will be returning to the ballroom for the finale. Derek will still be a part of the show, however. He’ll be appearing virtually in both live and recorded forms at different points of the show.
The change in judging is a big deal for contestants, as the scores from the judges are combined with votes from viewers in order to determine who ultimately wins the competition and takes home the Mirrorball trophy.
Pro Dancers Are Excited For Julianne’s Return
Some of the professional dancers spoke with Entertainment Tonight about Julianne’s return as a judge.
“Julianne is the reason I started doing ballroom!” Jenna Johnson told the outlet. “So to have her judge this finale just means the world.”
Cheryl Burke is also excited about the return of Julianne.
“I’ve known Julianne since she was ten years old so we go way back,” Burke shared with the outlet. “It’s always nice to have old contestants or old pros come back on our show and judge, so she is amazing and she knows what to look for. She’s a great replacement for Derek, so I’m really excited.”
Who Will Win The Mirrorball?
Finalists JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson, Iman Shumpert and Daniella Karagach, Cody Rigsby and Cheryl Burke, and Amanda Kloots and Alan Bersten will each perform multiple dances during the finale in hopes of scoring high with the judges and the viewers.
With such tight competition up until this point, it’s hard to make a definitive choice about who will win the whole thing. There are a few factors to consider when it comes to making that prediction including which couples have been in the bottom two and which couples are likely to get the highest scores from the judges.
We think the most likely winner of “Dancing With the Stars” season 30 is JoJo Siwa and her partner Jenna Johnson. The couple is consistently at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to the scores for their dances, and they have only been in the bottom two one time in the competition.
It’s possible that any of the remaining contestants could come away with the win this time around, however. With Amanda Kloots and Alan Bersten being in the bottom two last week, fans may be more interested in voting for them. Iman Shumpert has yet to be in the bottom two, so it’s also possible he has an incredibly large fan base that will pull him to the final two and possible to that Mirrorball.
Cody Rigsby is also a possibility when it comes to the winner, as he’s only been in the bottom two one time and seems to have a large fan base when it comes to votes.
“Dancing With the Stars” airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern time (live) and Pacific time (recorded) on ABC.
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