Derek Hough turned a routine judges’ critique into the moment people could not stop talking about on the Season 35 premiere of Dancing with the Stars. While judging Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess on September 15, Hough accidentally called Cameron “Dylan,” and the slip landed in the middle of a live night built to launch the new season.
The mistake mattered because Cameron had just posted a 17 out of 30, a score that kept him in the middle of the pack after the first eight performances on “Premiere: Night One.” Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson led the scoreboard with 21 out of 30, while Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach followed with 20 out of 30. At the other end, Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson scored 10 out of 30, and Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman scored 12 out of 30 for their Salsa to Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is),” before Leavitt became the first contestant eliminated by the end of the night.
The name mix-up quickly took on a life of its own because fans connected it to Dylan Efron, who had been a finalist in Season 34. In other words, this was not just a stray slip of the tongue during a live broadcast; it was a mistake that sent viewers searching for whether Hough had meant to reference the previous season’s finalist or had simply stumbled over Cameron’s name. The judges’ panel, rounded out by Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba, was back for the premiere as the show opened its 35th season with celebrity contestants dancing to songs that topped Billboard charts in the year they were born.
That structure also explains why the error drew so much attention. The premiere put the male celebrity contestants on the floor first, with the second half of couples scheduled to perform on September 16, so viewers had little else to discuss once Hough’s comment hit the air. On a night designed to introduce the season cleanly, the name mistake became the line people remembered most, and the next round of performances will now arrive with that moment still hanging over the scoreboard.
Tyler Cameron did not need the extra spotlight to stay relevant to the season, but the slip gave his 17 out of 30 an outsized afterlife. Hough’s comment did not alter the score, the placement, or the elimination math, but it did remind viewers that live judging can be just as memorable when it goes wrong as when it goes right.
