Dancing With the Stars is ready to find its next professional dancer with a little help from reality TV.
Us Weekly has learned a new spinoff show is in the works — tentatively titled Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro — and will feature up-and-coming professional dancers competing for a spot on season 35 of ABC’s hit reality show.
Contestants will live in a house together and compete in a grueling audition process. In the season finale, a winner will be crowned and earn the dream gig of becoming a pro dancer on Dancing With the Stars.
According to Variety, the show is likely to air this summer on ABC and Hulu, and producers are hard at work securing talent for the project.
Wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin, who won Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars in November 2025, is in talks to host.
Meanwhile, Dancing With the Stars pro Mark Ballas — who was most recently paired up with Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast member Whitney Leavitt — and his mother, Shirley Ballas, could serve as judges. (Shirley is also a professional dancer and served as a head judge on BBC One’s reality show Strictly Come Dancing.)
Producers also hope to have a rotating mentor or pro sign on to complete the judges’ panel.
News of a possible spinoff for Dancing With the Stars comes after the show had a record-breaking season this past fall. The season 34 finale, which featured Irwin, 22, and Witney Carson earning the season’s mirrorball trophy, became the most-watched finale in nine years.
According to ABC, 72 million votes came through on finale night alone, with nearly half a billion votes cast throughout the entire season.
The show’s success has also resulted in the launch of Dancing With the Stars Con.
Described as a “celebration of all things Dancing With the Stars,” the event is scheduled for July 31 to August 2 at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California. The three-day event will feature live dance performances, panels, interactive photo experiences, exhibits and much more.
“I think this weekend in Palm Springs is going to be so epic because you really get more hands-on time with all of us,” Jenna Johnson exclusively teased to Us after the announcement on Tuesday, February 10. “The pros are going to be there. Fan-favorite celebrities are going to be there.”
“Dancing With the Stars Official Podcast” host and mirrorball champion Joey Graziadei said he will be in attendance and can’t wait to interact with fans in a whole new way.
“I feel like the biggest thing is that we get to now have this opportunity for a full weekend to engage with [fans] and let them ask all the questions they want to know and get the unfiltered responses from the pros and celebrities that will be there,” Graziadei, 30, teased. “It is for the fans, and I think what’s going to be so much fun is for them to be able to shape that experience however they see fit.”
