All About ‘DWTS’ Judges Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba & Derek Hough’s Love Lives
Dancing With the Stars Season 35 is finally here, and with it, Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Derek Hough are returning to the judges’ table to rate the new cast and seasoned pros’ performances all season long.
Tonioli and Inaba have been with the ballroom dance series since Day 1, assessing couples’ chemistry, footwork, and more since 2005. Hough, who started as a pro on the series, joined the judges’ panel in Season 29 as the most winning dancer in DWTS history. While this trio doesn’t hit the dance floor every night, they’re certainly stars in their own right.
Below, we’re taking a deep dive into their relationship history, including the partners who could be cheering them on in the audience throughout this season.
Bruno Tonioli
Tonioli is the oldest judge of the bunch. He was born in Ferrara, Italy, in 1955, making him 70 today. Involved in both Dancing with the Stars and the British series Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent, Tonioli has been in the professional dance world since the 1980s. As a beloved character on both sides of the pond, it’s no wonder that Tonioli has a long-term partner whom he’s been involved with since 2010: Jason Schanne. The Michigan native is 31 years his junior and works as a model. The couple had a commitment ceremony in 2012.
Marten De Boer
Schanne, who is not active on social media, leads a pretty private life. While Tonioli is more active in the public eye, he hasn’t spoken much about his significant other, either. The two share their time between their London home and their Los Angeles mansion. Tonioli is currently a judge on Britain’s Got Talent as well.
Carrie Ann Inaba
Inaba appears to be single today. Looking back at her dating history, the 58-year-old So You Think You Can Dance alum met fellow choreographer Artem Chigvintsev when the Russian dancer was competing on the show, and they quickly started dating in 2006. Ultimately, their relationship wasn’t meant to be, and they broke up at the end of 2008. After that, the two reunited on Dancing with the Stars when Chigvintsev joined as a troupe member and later a pro.
Chigvintsev made headlines in August 2024 after being arrested on a charge of corporal injury to a spouse. Chigvintsev and his ex-wife, Nikki Garcia, whom he met on the set of DWTS, have since divorced.
ABC
After her relationship with Chigvintsev, Inaba got engaged twice. Jesse Sloan proposed to Inaba on national television during an episode of Live with Kelly and Regis after they met on eHarmony. That said, she called off their engagement in 2012. Inaba later got engaged to actor Robb Derringer in 2016, but their relationship ended as well in 2017.
After that, she was briefly involved with Italian musician Tony Neiman between 2014 and 2015. She was most recently connected to Fabien Viteri, but the two ultimately broke things off in 2021.
Derek Hough
Fans might recall when Derek Hough, who is 41, shared the DWTS ballroom dance floor with his wife. He is married to Hayley Erbert, who was a troupe dancer on Dancing with the Stars for seven seasons. She competed on Season 10 of So You Think You Can Dance, and the two met in 2014 when his sister, Julianne Hough, hired Erbert to go on tour with them.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney
Hough and Erbert officially announced their relationship in 2017. They got engaged in 2022 and tied the knot a year later in Monterey in August 2023. At the ceremony, plenty of members of the DWTS family were in attendance, including Alfonso Ribeiro, Maria Menounos, and Shawn Johnson. Mark Ballas, a current DWTS pro, even served as Hough’s best man.
Erbert experienced a medical emergency in December 2023 when she was diagnosed with a cranial hematoma. She was hospitalized and underwent surgery. Thankfully, she made a full recovery.
In July 2025, the couple announced they were expecting their first child together after a pregnancy loss. Their baby girl, Everley Capri Hough, was born on December 29, 2025.
Dancing With the Stars, Season 35, Premieres Tuesday, September 15 at 8/7c, Hulu and Disney+
