{"id":643847,"date":"2026-10-28T14:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643847\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T14:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:26:14","slug":"mark-ballas-reacts-to-mom-shirley-ballas-dwts-judging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643847\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Ballas Reacts to Mom Shirley Ballas’ DWTS Judging"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest judge Shirley Ballas <\/a>may have sparked fear in the hearts of some Dancing With the Stars<\/a> contestants this week, but Mark Ballas<\/a> was ready to face his mom\u2019s critiques.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m used to it,\u201d Mark, 40, told Us after Horror Movie Night on Tuesday, October 27, where he and partner Maura Higgins performed a nightmare-inducing contemporary routine inspired by The Lost Boys.<\/p>\n

Mark added, \u201cI grew up in this world. She\u2019s been judging Strictly [Come Dancing], the U.K. version, for 10 years now and they\u2019re a little tougher over there. They just are. So I\u2019m used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair \u2014 who were decked out in fangs and fake blood \u2014 earned a mix of scores from the judges, receiving a total of 32 out of 40 points. Shirley, 66, gave the lowest score on the panel, holding up a 7. She even brought out her iconic mini shoe to demonstrate how to pivot correctly on the foot.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: ‘DWTS’ Horror Movie Night Shocks With Heartbreaking Double Elimination<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe cast of Dancing With the Stars season 35 brought the thrills during Horror Movie Night \u2014 but the real scare came with the shocking double elimination. Since nobody was sent home during Dedication Night, the remaining couples\u2019 scores from Tuesday, October 27, were combined with what they earned the week before. Julia Stiles and [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

Mark told Us he wasn\u2019t nervous for what commentary his mom might have. \u201cMy mom has been my coach through, like, high level competitions back when I was younger,\u201d he explained. \u201cAll my nerves and energy is for Maura \u2026 because it\u2019s not about me, it\u2019s about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MarkDisney\/Christopher Willard<\/p>\n

According to Higgins, the pair had \u201cfun\u201d joking about Shirley coming into the ballroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a tough judge,\u201d Mark acknowledged, while the Love Island UK alum called Shirley a \u201cqueen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark also pointed out that his mom \u201ctrained pretty much all\u201d of the DWTS pros through the years. And even when she\u2019s not there in person, Shirley isn\u2019t afraid to give her son feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been weeks \u2014 I\u2019ve been doing the show for so long, I\u2019ll send my mom a routine to look at and if I got, like, a 9 or a 10, she\u2019d be like, \u2018I\u2019d give that a 6,’\u201d he joked. \u201cShe just says it how it is for me. \u2026 It\u2019s just part of the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: DWTS’ Maura Higgins Jokingly Blames Mark Ballas for Dedication Night Lift<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMaura Higgins is sitting the record straight after her accidental lift on Dancing With the Stars\u2019 Dedication Night. \u201cOh, well, it wasn\u2019t a lift,\u201d Higgins, 35, exclusively told Us after the Tuesday, October 20, live show. \u201cNo matter what, it was Mark [Ballas]\u2019s fault. It wasn\u2019t mine.\u201d Higgins and Ballas, 40, performed an Ireland-inspired paso [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

Throughout the night, fans saw Shirley reaching for lower-scoring paddles<\/a>, handing out 4s after performances by Julia Stiles and Tatyana Ali. Higgins was last to dance on Tuesday, but she didn\u2019t feel as nervous as in other weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like every week my nerves get [a little] bit better,\u201d she told Us. \u201cEven going last, I thought that was really gonna freak me out. It\u2019s not nice going last. But I was OK. The minute the song started, I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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You have successfully subscribed.<\/p>\n

With Disney Week on the horizon, Higgins admitted she\u2019s feeling the wear and tear<\/a> on her body.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really sore and tired. \u2026 Obviously, the competition is really hard, but every week, the show gets harder. And then because you\u2019re tired mentally and physically, then that\u2019s even a struggle because then you\u2019re working harder on top of that,\u201d she told Us. \u201cI wish I had the energy I had on week one, like, I wish my body felt like that, but it just does get so hard. But I\u2019m trying my best. I\u2019m really, I\u2019m really trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guest judge Shirley Ballas may have sparked fear in the hearts of some Dancing With the Stars contestants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[16811,156,1017,111,139,69,1093,437],"class_list":["post-643847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-dancing-with-the-stars","tag-entertainment","tag-exclusive","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-reality-tv","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}