‘DWTS’ Fans Go Wild After Derek Hough Breaks ‘5’ Paddle

ByNikole Behrens
Derek Hough from Instagram

DWTS fans who caught Dedication Night on Tuesday went wild for Derek Hough’s judging skills. Although viewers have called out the 39-year-old for scoring harshly this year, they loved the way he corrected a grave injustice from the week prior.

Derek broke his own paddle and tossed it across the ballroom for Phaedra. Read on to see how the internet reacted.

Derek Hough Lifts Up Phaedra Parks After Gene Simmons Scored Her Poorly

KISS member Gene Simmons was the guest judge during Hair Metal Night, but he proved to be wildly unpopular with viewers. Fans hated the way he objectified the women contestants. And on top of that, he handed out utterly random scores.

Jaws dropped when he gave Phaedra Parks and Val Chmerkovskiy a 5 for their Paso doble to Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name.”

But Derek Hough definitely made up for it.

Phaedra Parks and Val Chmerkovskiy from DWTS on Instagram
Dancing With The Stars/Instagram

During Dedication Night, Phaedra chose to honor her mother with her routine. She and Val performed the Rumba to Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me.” They earned 8s from each judge — but Derek Hough didn’t stop there.

Derek stood and snapped his 5 paddle in half before throwing it onto the dance floor. As the couple went up to the skybox, Val gave it a swift kick.

Online, fans praised Derek’s gesture.

Other X comments included:

  • “Derek Hough confirmed iconic after going full Cady Heron with the 5 paddle after Phaedra’s rumba Gene Simmons count your days”
  • “Derek said f**k that 5 Phaedra. Wack Gene again for me.”
  • “Phaedra Parks performed beautifully and Gene Simmons can suck it”

Season 33’s Disney Night Takes Place Next Week

Disney Night kicks off on Tuesday and the full list of routines is out. Viewers will get a chance to watch the top eight couples pay homage to fan-favorite Disney movies including The Lion King, Encanto, The Little Mermaid, and many more. Phaedra and Val will perform a Jazz routine to “Cruella De Vil” from One Hundred and One Dalmatians

To keep things interesting, fans can likely expect the judges to get into the spirit of the night and dress up too. There’s no telling who Derek will dress as for the evening, but fans can be sure he will bring lots of fun with him.

And hopefully, he will continue to score contestants fairly.

What did you think about Derek Hough’s bold display on Tuesday night? Did you agree with his move? Leave your own thoughts and ideas in the comments.

For the latest DWTS news and updates, keep following TV Shows Ace online. Tune into ABC at 8 PM Eastern time this Tuesday night to catch all the fun routines for Disney Night.

Nikole Behrens
Follow me!
Latest posts by Nikole Behrens (see all)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *