{"id":42345,"date":"2025-09-04T04:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/42345\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T04:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:50:08","slug":"why-mark-ballas-came-back-to-dancing-with-the-stars-for-season-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/42345\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Mark Ballas Came Back to Dancing With the Stars for Season 34"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Ballas<\/strong><\/a> was not quite ready to say goodbye to the ballroom \u2014 and is ready to vie for the mirrorball trophy with Whitney Leavitt<\/strong><\/a> on Dancing With the Stars<\/a> season 34.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some injury stuff clear up that was kind of slowing me down,\u201d Mark, 39, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, September 3, about his return to the show, noting that his body is \u201cfeeling good\u201d after some \u201chardcore\u201d physical therapy.<\/p>\n

Mark took a hiatus from Dancing With the Stars after season 25, returning for season 31 in 2022 \u2014 which he won with TikTok\u2019s Charli D\u2019Amelio<\/strong>. While he confirmed his retirement in 2023, Mark now wants to show his passion to his son. (Mark and wife BC Jean<\/strong> welcomed son Banksi<\/a> in 2023.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI also am a new dad and I really am excited for my son to see daddy do this,\u201d Mark explained.
\u201cI love the show and I\u2019ve been able to perform on it a couple times since I stopped. I got to do the awesome tango with Derek [Hough]<\/strong>, me and Charli did a victory lap. I got to guest judge last year. \u2026 I\u2019m like, \u2018I think I got a couple more in the tank.\u2019 I want my son to watch me do this. Excited to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitney, for her part, may have shown off her dance moves online as part of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives\u2019 MomTok group, but she\u2019s yet to train in ballroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been very new,\u201d she exclusively told Us. \u201cI was humbled immediately. Honestly, I went in with so much confidence. I was like, \u2018I\u2019ve got this.\u2019 And then Mark started teaching me the moves. I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t got this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Why
\n Whitney and Mark Disney\/Andrew Eccles<\/p>\n

Whitney gushed that Mark has already been \u201cincredible\u201d as a teacher<\/a> during rehearsals. \u201cIt\u2019s so funny because Mark will show me a step and immediately in my mind, I\u2019ll think, \u2018There\u2019s just no way,\u2019\u201d she explained. \u201cBut he simplifies it to help me learn how to do it. So then when I do, I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh yeah.\u2019 He just simplifies everything, which makes it go smooth and seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they gear up to show off their dance moves to fans and judges alike, Mark noted that there\u2019s going to be no special treatment from pal Derek, 40. (Derek, Carrie Ann Inaba <\/strong>and Bruno Tonioli<\/strong> are confirmed to be taking the judges seat again<\/a> for season 34.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe good thing is we\u2019ve been doing this for so long, so he\u2019s gonna give it to you how it is,\u201d Mark quipped. \u201cI\u2019m ready for it. I\u2019ve been dealing with it for 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prove your DWTS fandom with Us Weekly and Bracketology.tv<\/a>! Compete against other fans and Us editors in the Bracketology DWTS fantasy league<\/a> this season to predict which pairs will make it to the finale for season 34. Get access to exclusive content, stats and a chance to win prizes. Join the league for free today!<\/p>\n

Dancing With the Stars premieres on ABC and Disney+ September 16 at 8 p.m. ET, with new episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Ballas was not quite ready to say goodbye to the ballroom \u2014 and is ready to vie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,117,2650,4500,31748,19,17,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-42345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-entertainment-news","11":"tag-exclusive","12":"tag-exclusive-interview","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}