Strictly fans all say same thing as Shirley Ballas' son performs same sex tango with Cheryl's ex
Dancing With The Stars pros Derek Hough and Mark Ballas teamed up with a same-sex tango for the show's recent season 33 finale. Their finale tango to Libertango by Tango Bardo has since become one of the most-watched finale dances. The dancers previously competed against each other every week on ABC's Dancing With The Stars but now Derek is part of the judging panel. But the professionals have been friends since they were children. The two attended the same college and even started a pop group together.
Derek also famously previously dated Cheryl around the time that they worked together closely on her music video Parachute in 2010. Speaking at a BBC Worldwide Dancing With The Stars event, Derek told Mail Online at the time: "We dated for a while. Absolutely we are still friends, we are still very close."
But all eyes have been on the two dancers, Mark and Derek, since their iconic Tango performance. Before taking to the dancefloor with his longtime best friend, Derek said: "Tonight, my buddy Mark Ballas and I are going to be bringing you a little ballroom history by dancing an Argentine Tango the way it was originally intended with two male dancers.
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"Most people would think the Argentine Tango is a very sexy, intimate, embracing moment between a man and a woman but this is going to be a dance between two males," Mark added. "There's going to be more masculine energy there."
Proud mum and Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas rushed to social media to congratulate her son on his epic performance. Sharing a clip with her 352,000 Instagram followers, Shirley wrote: "Super proud of my boys," tagging both Mark and Derek.
She continued: "Huge congratulations on this phenomenal Argentine Tango. I’ve never seen anything so special in all my time. I can’t stop watching… enjoy. X @dancingwiththestars."
Fans rushed to the comment section to agree with Shirley, with many calling the iconic performance "phenomenal." One fan wrote: "So special to see it danced by two men as it was originally. Stunning performance."
Another fan added: "Absolutely beautiful. So powerful," while a third shared: "Derek and Mark were absolutely mesmerizing! Two phenomenal dancers lit up the floor and became one burning inferno."
Others pointed out how much they'd love to see the performance in the UK, with a fan commenting: "Please can you get them to come perform on Strictly!!" and another agreeing, adding: "Can they come here to perform on our strictly. What a performance!!!!!!!"
Derek and Mark aren’t the first same-sex couple to dance together on the show. In 2021, Jojo Siwa and Jenna Johnson made DWTS history as the first to break the gender norms with two women competing and in 2016, Nyle DiMarco paired with Keo Motsepe for a routine set to "Habanera" by Georges Bizet.
