‘Dancing With the Stars’: Derek Hough Explains Jenna Dewan’s Premiere Night Score

Jenna Dewan‘s casting on Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars has been a bit controversial due to her extensive past dance experience, but she actually didn’t top the leaderboard during premiere week. After the judges scored all the ladies’ performances on September 16, Dewan fell behind Maura Higgins on the scoreboard with scores of 19/30 and 21/30, respectively.

While Bruno Tonioli gave both women 7s, Derek Hough and Carrie Ann Inaba each scored Dewan and Valentin Chmerkovskiy‘s tango a 6. “For me, Jenna’s dance … the expectations are up here,” Hough who’s partnered with Huggies for their #huggiesfirst campaign, told TV Insider. “People are like, ‘Oh gosh, it’s Jenna Dewan.’ So to my surprise, I was like, ‘Oh, wait, there’s a lot we need to work on here, actually.'”

While Hough called Dewan’s routine “powerful” and “strong,” he pointed out, “The shoulders were to the ears.” He compared that to Higgins, adding, “If you look at Maura, for me, technically, if you look at the frame, you look at the top half of the body, it was pristine. So much air. Beautiful.”

Disney/Eric McCandless

Hough is confident that Dewan will be able to work on what the judges critiqued her for. “That’s not a difficult thing to fix,” he continued. “I mean, listen, I say it’s not difficult … it’s something clear to fix. It’s a clear thing to work on, but it was very evident. It was very evident.”

Noting that it’s his job to judge the dancers, Hough said, “I think it would be a disservice to her if I didn’t say, ‘Hey, come on now. That’s ballroom 101. Let’s keep those babies down.'”

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He also confirmed that hearing the critiques is what Dewan would want. “She wouldn’t want me to just be like, ‘Hey, you’re amazing,’ and then that’s just it,” Hough clarified. “I want her to be better. I want her to improve. I want her to get better and grow. I don’t want this to be a showcase. I want this to be a growth experience. And for me, I’m going to point out those things, and that’s what she would want.”

Dancing With the Stars, Season 35, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+