Rob Wade Discusses Derek Hough, DWTS Season 20 and The Pros
Well, this is interesting. To me, it confirms that Derek is a free agent and he and Rob worked it out that he doesn’t have to “close the door” completely. And that he’ll be back is Season 21 for some crazy ass reason. I guess he does love the show and is loyal. Rob also says when we can expect to hear which pros are competing – in E! News:
“Well, he’s not leaving. He’s sitting out a season,” executive producer Rob Wade tells E! News. “And it’s amazing that we started this show, 10 years ago, I think Derek started in season two or three and now he got an opportunity to be on Broadway. It’s amazing that our dancers can grow to a place where they can do something like that and come back.”
“It was tough for him. We had a real heart to heart. It wasn’t an easy decision and it was difficult because I feel like, if not a father, a bit of an uncle to these guys and he was struggling with it so much,” Wade says. “I was like, ‘Look, you don’t have to close a door. You can leave a door open and go off, come back in the fall. I don’t want you to leave more than that and I’ll let you go off and do this. We’ll allow that.’ He was very grateful.”
When DWTS announces its cast of pros in “early to mid February,” Wade says fans can expect to see a mix of familiar faces and newcomers as dancers sitting out gives them the chance to “bring new people in, give other people a chance. I’m excited by that because I want to see new characters come in.”
But will other fan favorites, like Mark Ballas and Valentin Chmervoskiy, definitely be returning to the ballroom?
“Mark I know definitely wants to come back, and Val, and so on,” Wade says.
ETA: Glamour has interviewed Rob Wade. You can read the full interview at this link. He talks on what they hope to bring to the table for Season 20 and lots more. Here is a take from the link…
Rob Wade: It’s exciting. It’s going to be a fresh season, and we’re really excited to celebrate the best of the show, but also to continue to innovate. We are going to expand on viewer interaction and hand more power to the viewers. All-Access will be bigger and better, and also we’re going to expand that behind-the-scenes access from not just the performance night, but to live feeds of rehearsals throughout the week at McCadden [where the dancers rehearse].
Joe Sungkur: So you can imagine how good that will be!
Rob: So if you’re at work during the day and wondering what your favorite couple might be doing, you can click on that and watch them rehearse.
Joe: And you can totally come on All-Access! That’s for sure!
Glamour: 100%! I would love to!
Joe: You’d be so great. We’d love to have you there.Glamour: A couple weeks ago, I wrote about what I wanted to see DWTS do for season 20, one of which was an expansion to two nights a week again. Any chance of that happening?
Rob: In terms of schedule, we’re still going to be focused on Mondays at the moment, but things might change. We have a constant dialogue with ABC, and we’d be very happy to bring [Tuesday] back, but we like the show at one night a week and we like the show at two nights a week. One of the things that will be important is that we are upping the ante and expanding the show openers, giving the viewers more access to the backstage area and the couples than ever before. We are going to bring back some fan favorites, we are going to bring back Disney week, classical week. At the same time, we have new ideas that hopefully will provide more drama, more humor than ever before. We’re excited about it, and the tempo of the show from last season was very important. It felt like you weren’t sure what was going to happen from week to week and that will be the same. It won’t feel like the same show twice.
ETA2: There is also a new interview with Rob Wade at The TV Page. He talks of how Len may not be retiring afterall.
Wade says there is “every chance that Len will be back” for season 22 in the spring of 2016. “He wants to be back and we need to consider that.”
In the meantime, there is no rush to find a replacement, Wade says.
“We have four judges at the moment. Len goes and we have three. But we had three judges for a long time. So we can always stick with three.”
Though I want him to keep going outside of DWTS, I understand his loyalty. I hope there are more doors open for him in the future so he doesn’t have to come back. But at the same time I’m soooo glad he might come back. LOL to the haters saying they are glad he’s leaving for good. Good luck to Derek on Broadway!
I have watched since season 1. Derek started in season 5 and I’ve enjoyed watching him every season. I hope that Henry Byalikov gets another shot at pro with a great partner. He’s amazingly talented & deserves a pro spot. I don’t want to see unknown faces as pros. Let them “earn it” by being in the troupe first. While Allison is a great dancer on her own, she should never have been a pro without learrning the ropes first. Good luck to Derek & will look forward to his return to DWTS. And I think the voting process needs reworked, certain pros have fans with thousands of email accounts to pad the votes. Go back to only allowing phone votes and even out the fan bases a little.
Eh, power voters clearly don’t have that much of an impact, Julia. Derek has more fans than any of the other pros, as did his partner last season have more fans than any of the other celebs. That doesn’t mean they power vote in such numbers to WIN, since Derek and Beth only took fourth place. Maks and Val also have massive power voters and Val has yet to win. Witney, on the other hand, doesn’t have the fanbase (or didn’t at the time) to have masses of power voters, yet she won with Alfonso.
The general audience – which is already unlikely to power vote – is what decides with winner.
I too, am glad Derek is doing the Spring Spectacular at Radio City. I will miss him very much on DWTS. I’ll probably still watch tho, to support Mark. As far as Derek coming back to DWTS, I think it helps to keep him in touch with the fans. To have his name and face reach the masses on a regular basis. It keeps him out in front for his current fans and introduce him to new ones. BUT if another opportunity should come up that will help him to continue to grow as a performer and entertainer, I hope he would take that route. In the meantime, Thank God for social media and those of you who work so hard on his behalf to keep his name out there. I for one definitely appreciate the hard work you guys put into keeping us fans informed I’m so happy for Derek and thanks again!
Hi, I usually don’t comment but couldn’t stop myself after reading this “… but to LIVE feeds of rehearsals throughout the week at McCadden [where the dancers rehearse].” Am I the only who thinks this is a bad idea ? DWTS turning into “Big Brother”? I’m all for more rehearsal footage but not live..the contestants/pros need their private space too and not feel they are being observed every single second.
Rob Wade my dear, you had me at classical week! I’m thrilled it’s coming back as well as Disney week.
I love backstage stuff as long as it’s geniune, unscripted moments. I don’t want the backstage footage to become more “onstage” if that makes sense.
But they ARE being observed every single second – by a camera! They’re not allowed to rehearse sans camera, so I’m not sure what difference a live feed will make except those watching it will realize how VERY Manipulative the rehearsal packages can be. And how sometimes they’re not. 🙂
Classical and Disney week – be still my heart! Yay!
So excited for Season 20!!!!!!! Classical and Disney week!?! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please bring back Elimination Night! Why did ABC get rid of the Awe Inspiring Results Show? Super High Ratings!!! Super High Viewership!!!
Even the Recap show drew big numbers!!!
Anyway, Rob Wade, you did an amazing job helming your first season. Make sure you turn it up a notch for DWTS 10th Anniversary. And could we possibly have either or all six of the following: Movie Week, Broadway Week, Michael Jackson Week, Latin Week, TV Theme Show Week, and/or Hip Hop/Country Week. xoxoxo