Derek Hough turns 41 with a record that still hangs over Dancing With the Stars: six Mirrorball trophies, 17 competitive seasons and never a finish lower than sixth place. He joined the show as a pro in its fifth season at 22, first dancing with Jennie Garth and beginning a run that made him one of the program’s defining figures.
His competitive list reads like a tour through the show’s biggest eras. Hough won with Brooke Burke in Season 7, Nicole Scherzinger in Season 10, Jennifer Gray in Season 11, Kellie Pickler in Season 16, Amber Riley in Season 17 and Bindi Irwin in Season 21. He also finished second with Shawn Johnson and Amy Purdy, third with Ricki Lake, and fourth with Garth, Joanna Krupa, Maria Menounos, Bethany Mota and Nastia Liukin. Shannon Elizabeth and Marilu Henner were both eliminated with him in sixth place, while Lil’ Kim finished fifth.
That record is why his birthday is more than a personal milestone for the franchise. Hough retired as a pro after Season 23, then returned in 2020 for the show’s 29th season as a judge when the chair once held by Len Goodman was left open because Goodman could not travel from England to Los Angeles during pandemic restrictions. Hough worked alongside Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli for the next two seasons, then became the show’s new head judge after Goodman retired after Season 31 and died of bone cancer in April 2023.
The arc also runs through his life off the ballroom floor. Hough met Hayley Erbert during the Move Live tour in 2014, when she was still a young dancer before joining the ABC show as a troupe member in 2015. She stayed in that role for six seasons, the pair got engaged in 2022 and married in August 2023. In December 2023, Erbert suffered a near-fatal cranial hematoma, needed emergency surgery and later underwent a second procedure for a skull implant.
For Hough, the numbers tell the story as clearly as any tribute could. He arrived as a 22-year-old pro, became a six-time champion and never missed the upper tier of the leaderboard. Now he sits in the judge’s chair, carrying the show’s history with him rather than chasing it.
