Dancing With the Stars host Julianne Hough isn’t afraid to be the butt of the joke.
“I fear I’m going to ruffle some features with this one, but somebody has to say it. If there’s one thing that Julianne Health is going to do, it is speak absolute nonsense, but get away with it,” TikTok user Grace Harmer wrote via the platform on Wednesday, September 17.
“I don’t know if it’s the lethal face card distracting us, or maybe because she speaks with so much confidence and in such a hosting voice,” Harmer continued. “But if you really listen to what she says when she’s asking these questions after the dances, I’d say a solid 60% of the time, it is nonsense.”
Hough responded to the upload on Friday, September 19, and while she didn’t say anything her physical reaction spoke volumes.
Hough, clearly entertained, can be seen laughing and mouthing, “Thank you” when Harmer praises her “lethal face card.”
Harmer also made sure to emphasize that she’s a fan of Hough’s style, even if she has some criticism for the host.
“And let me be so clear, I love it. I love her as the host. I do not want them to replace her,” she explained. “Because number one, it shows how live the show truly is. Because that’s one of the things that I love about Dancing with the Stars. It’s not perfect. I don’t want live TV to be perfect. But there are mess ups on the show that make you know that it’s actually happening live.”
Harmer added that “some of the things [Hough] says are just so unintentionally funny” — despite the host likely benefitting from the use of cue cards.
Julianne Hough Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images
“I don’t know if she actually is reading them, or if she’s just like paraphrasing or what is actually written on those cue cards,” she added.
Hough continued to laugh on her side of the video on Friday. As Farmer continued, “But like the formula she follows is she repeats one random fact from the intro package of the celebrity and then asks a follow up question,” Hough leaned her head to the side and mouthed, “Yeah” as she nodded long.
That question, Harmer continued, is “typically, ‘What does this experience mean to you?’ Or, ‘How does that affect you through this experience?’ Something of that matter. For example, the best one I can think of tonight, this is not an exact quote, but when it was Corey Feldman’s turn, she goes, ‘Do you have scoliosis? What does this experience mean to you?’ Or something like that.”
At this point, Hough begins laughing so hard she leans back in her chair, clearly appreciating being called out.
“And like, I get what she was going for, right? I understand the concept. But when you really think about it, like, that’s hilarious,” Harmer said in the video. “‘Corey, you have scoliosis. What does this show mean to you?’ I don’t know. Julianne, I love you. Never change.”
Hough, who was a professional dancer on the ABC show before she joined as a judge, took over as cohost alongside Alfonso Ribeiro in 2023.
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, and steams the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
