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Beloved “Dancing With the Stars” pro Mark Ballas made a surprise appearance in the ballroom on October 8, 2024.
As the camera panned around the audience, the cameraman focused in on Ballas who was standing and clapping his hands. A bit later in the show, co-host Alfonso Ribeiro announced that Ballas would be back in a more official way this season. The former pro will serve as a guest judge on October 15.
So far on season 33, there have been two guest judges. Actress Rosie Perez served as a guest judge on Soul Train Night while Gene Simmons sat on the judges panel for Hair Metal Night.
DWTS Fans Are Excited for Mark Ballas to Guest Judge
After Ribeiro confirmed that Ballas would be joining Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli for one week at the judges’ table, fans reacted on a Reddit thread.
“At least we know we’ll have some sanity on the panel. I am so looking forward to Mark. I’d much rather see former pros over these random celebs that aren’t going to take it seriously,” one person wrote.
“I love this!! I miss Mark in the ballroom,” someone else added.
“It’s what we deserve!!!” a third fan said.
“Finally!!!…an old pro…not some random celebrity,” a fourth comment read.
Mark Ballas Left ‘Dancing With the Stars’ in 2022
Ballas left the show, unofficially, after his season 31 Mirrorball Trophy win. Though he’s never formally announced his departure from the show, he did tell the audience his plans at the end of a show on the DWTS Live Tour.
In a video uploaded to Twitter, Ballas said he’s done.
“I just want to finish this by saying that this will be the last time you see me dance in this capacity. I’m coming to a close tonight. This is gonna be my last dance. I had the best time ever this season, and this freestyle was a great way to finish it off. … Thank you guys for a lifetime of memories,” Ballas could be heard telling the crowd. “This is the last time I’ll be dancing with a partner,” he added.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Us Weekly following his season 31 win, Ballas said that the show was hard on his body and he wanted to return.
“I don’t know [if I’m coming back]. You know, the older I get, I try to stay very present in the moment, you know, and I think that was like a big part of creating these dances,” he told the outlet. “Every week I put, I tried to put every aspect of creativity, care, musicality, nuance into each one. I think you can only do that by staying totally in the moment of each time. So, right now I’m in this moment with Charli and … my body couldn’t even fathom a thought of doing this [in] six months, so I’ll let you know down the line,” he added.
Ballas returned to perform twice on season 32; once for the Len Goodman tribute, and again on the finale alongside his season 31 partner, Charli D’Amelio.
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