Julianne Hough is one of the all-time greats of Dancing With the Stars. She was only on it as a pro for five seasons, but she won twice in those five years, taking home the Mirrorball Trophy in back-to-back seasons when she was just 18 and 19 years old. She has also been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Choreography, winning in 2015.
So, she’s certainly qualified to decide which four contestants would make it on the Dancing With the Stars Mount Rushmore, i.e. the four GOATs (greatest of all time) — though she acknowledges that there have been so many good ones over the years that it’s hard to narrow it down to just four.
“Oh, this is so hard. I’ll go with Emmitt Smith, Apolo Anton Ohno, Iman Shumpert and Bindi Irwin,” said Hough in a new interview with Variety.
For the record, Smith won season 3 and came back and took 4th place on season 15 both times with partner Cheryl Burke; Ohno won season 4 with Hough and then came back and took 5th place in season 15 with partner Karina Smirnoff; Shumpert won season 30 with partner Daniella Karagach; and Irwin won season 21 with partner (and now judge) Derek Hough, Julianne’s older brother.
Do you agree with her answers?
Hough did go on to list a few more possibilities and said it’s so hard to choose, especially without a list in front of her.
“There are so many greats I could’ve included, such as Amber Riley, Jordan Fisher and Zendaya. The list goes on. Honestly, I wish I had a full list in front of me. It’s impossible to choose!” said Hough.
The 36-year-old dancer also talked about playing a Ginger Rogers-esque character in the Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed film The Bride, which comes out in 2026. Hough said that the Golden Age of Hollywood is definitely her wheelhouse, but she wants to bring it forward with more present-day narratives.
“The moment I read for it, I had to get it. Maggie is such a rich, detail-oriented director, and working alongside people like Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal and Bobby Jean Smith was mind-blowing. The style, the sound, the movement — it’s going to be uncomfortable in the best way,” said Hough, adding, “The Golden Age of Hollywood is really my genre, not just for nostalgia, but because I want to reimagine it. Bring that glamour and talent-forward energy, but shift the outdated narratives.”
