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As one of only five dancers throughout Dancing With the Stars‘ history to be promoted from troupe to pro after just one season, Hailey Bills has every right to brag. But that’s not Bills’ style, as she’s just grateful to have made the little dancer growing up in Utah who had big dreams proud.
“I haven’t really come to terms with where [and] what my life is,” Bills tells The Hollywood Reporter over a recent Zoom from her trailer outside Los Angeles’ Television City, where the show tapes. “When I see people on the streets and they’re saying, ‘Oh my gosh, are you Hailey Bills?’ I’m like, how on earth do you know who I am? It’s so weird.”
Last year, Bills joined the DWTS dance troupe, a group of dancers who perform supplemental, non-competitive numbers and are not paired with celebrities. After season 34 wrapped in November 2025, she headed out on tour in January for five months, performing alongside the pros as if she was one of them.
While she didn’t have pro status just yet, there’s no denying she was already catching people’s attention through the screen and on the road. Bills has since amassed a combined million followers across social platforms, proving to be a bona fide reality and social media star.
The DWTS producers clearly noticed. Just as Bills was jumping back into the swing of things on tour, she was told “literally minutes before” one of their performances this past spring that she’d be a pro on season 35. That meant after just one season in the troupe, whereas other pros have spent five seasons before being upped, she would take on her first year competing and teaching a star how to perform ballroom dance.
Bills was caught by surprise. “People think I’m lying when I say this; I was not expecting it at all. Like, truly, I was not,” she admits.
It’s not shocking that some are skeptical of Bills’ honesty — she skyrocketed as a beloved figure in the DWTS community after her troupe tenure, boosted by her presence in the franchise after appearing on the Juniors spinoff in 2018 alongside her aunt, mirrorball champion Jenna Johnson. However, she also questioned her chances at a promotion due to the new franchise entry DWTS: The Next Pro, which confirmed another new dancer would be added for season 35 onto the already long recurring cast list (and Bills wasn’t competing for that spot).
“I was on tour this past year with DWTS, and that’s when they were filming The Next Pro. I thought there was just no way [I’d become a pro] with this Next Pro show happening,” she says. “And I was totally fine with that. I was just praying that I would be asked back on troupe.”
Once Bills’ pro casting was confirmed by ABC, it was monumental in itself, as she became part of DWTS‘ second-ever all-female partnership, being coupled with Sarah Jane Nader, the third-ever same-sex pairing.
Bills and Nader’s partnership is also a casting wink; Johnson became the first female pro to be partnered with a woman back in 2021 when she danced with Jojo Siwa. There was pressure on Bills’ shoulders heading into the season 35 premiere; it was her pro debut, and the second time two women would perform as a pair on the ABC program.
Her season was unfortunately short-lived, as Bills and Nader were eliminated during the second premiere episode, where only the female celebrities performed. She has no hard feelings about her elimination, but wishes she had more time to showcase what she’s really like as a pro.
“I think I speak for me and Adele [Zaikman, the Next Pro winner who was also booted during the first premiere night] when I say we wish we would have had more time to showcase [our talents]. But we also understand that there has to be someone to go, and that’s just how it was this season,” she says while chatting with THR nearly two weeks after being eliminated. It was important for Bills to shift her mindset from the disappointment that came with her elimination into gratitude. She admits “it is a hard balance,” juggling wanting to take the competition seriously while also keeping things light.
“It’s so hard, because this is such a life-consuming thing, to do this show. When I got cut, of course that’s a sad thing, and it was a hard night,” Bills says. “We were sad, disappointed, and all the things. But at the end of the day, I am choosing not to let it beat me up, because I still have 10 weeks on the show, and I could choose to be sad about it, or I can choose to just move on, because there truly isn’t anything I can do about it.”
Bills has been dancing since her childhood; her parents initially “made sure to put me in all the sports.” Between soccer, flag football, gymnastics and dance, she had her heart set on pursuing either soccer and dance at seven years old. She chose the latter, partly due to her familiar ties to the craft.
“A factor that went into that [choice] is my family,” she says. “A lot of my family members are dancers. My aunt [Jenna], my mom, my other aunt.”
Bills hails from Utah’s Center Stage Performing Arts Studio, which she jokes is “a big breeder of all these DWTS pros.” She’s not wrong, as a whopping nine former and current Dancing pros trained at the studio (including host Julianne Hough and her brother, judge Derek Hough).
Bills was dancing at Center Stage when ABC began casting for Juniors; she also doesn’t shy away from her aunt playing a part in her being cast.
“Of course, I work so hard in dance, but I think a huge factor into me being on the show is my aunt being Jenna Johnson,” she says. “I have to give her the credit for that.”
She’s not the only DWTS pro to reap the benefits of her family tree; fellow pro Rylee Arnold is the younger sister to season 25 winner Lindsay Arnold; Bills’ uncle, Val Chmerkovskiy, was brought in as a pro after his brother Maks joined in season two; and Derek was cast after Julianne won her first year as a pro in season four.
“This is a cast of nepo babies,” she says when asked if the interconnectivity of the DWTS pros makes the cast one of nepotism. “I’m proud to say I’m a nepo baby… I think a lot of us are.”
Below, Bills opens up about what she learned from her fast first season as a DWTS pro, the advice Mark Ballas gave her that she holds close, her quick rise to acclaim as a dancer and more.
You are one of many pros who have connections to other pros from the show. Do you think that makes the cast of Dancing With the Stars a cast of nepotism?
Oh my gosh, 1,000 percent. Like, I won’t even try to deny it. No, I’m proud to say I’m a nepo baby. Like, it’s just how it works, and I think a lot of us are, and that’s so lucky for us. I think I’m lucky to be a nepo baby. I’m lucky to have connections, but I don’t want that to downplay the fact that I and other people have worked really, really, really hard to get into this position. 1,000 percent; this is a cast of nepo babies, but I will say we’ve all worked extremely hard.
I love that you carry such a good attitude about that. Why is it important for you to embrace it?
I think it’s coming to terms with the fact that it’s just true. I don’t know how I would have gotten on the show if my aunt weren’t Jenna. Who knows if I would have? Truly, I don’t know. But I know that that came into place, and I know that because I had a connection with her, I was presented this role a little bit easier than others would. So I’m just gonna accept that. I’m really grateful for that, and I’m lucky.
Is there anything you’ve learned as your first year as a pro that you want to take into your next season?
I genuinely feel like a changed person after this experience. But I think walking in, if I am lucky enough to be a pro next season, I’ll know a lot more. Just starting from the ground up: how that works, patience levels and adapting to your partner’s learning style.
Do you have any unique or special hobbies or talents?
I wouldn’t even say this is a talent; this is a hobby that I’m trying to be good at. I’ve been trying to get into piano. I’m, like, obsessed with it. I really want to be good at it. So, with all this free time that I’m having [after being eliminated], I might start doing lessons. I also love reading. I am obsessed with reading right now. I love hiking, being outdoors. Sometimes I’ll go rent a bike or a scooter, and just go be free.
What does your perfect day off look like?
I wake up, sleep in a little bit, of course, and then go get breakfast. Maybe get a croissant or some sort of pastry. Go work out, because I love working out, and then I would dance for a little bit; I would just go sesh it out. Maybe bring someone with me to do that, and then I would go to the pool, be outdoors. Go to dinner with my friends, watch a movie, have a game night, go to bed.
What is something you can absolutely not live without?
An unserious thing is Diet Coke. I actually can’t function without Diet Coke, so that’s not healthy and not good.
Do you have a favorite thing that you have ever stolen from the Dancing With the Stars set?
I am obsessed with hoop earrings. I will always have a hoop earring in, and one time when I was on troupe, I had the cutest silver rhinestone earrings, and I decided to keep them on when I went home.
What is the best piece of advice you have received that you’ve actually used?
It was from Mark Ballas, actually a couple months ago. It’s just really stuck with me, and he said to me, “I want you to remember, it’s not that serious, but it is, also.” It’s a good message to me that when you need to be in it and lock in, absolutely do that and be 100 percent in. But also, if it doesn’t go your way, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just not that serious, and you shouldn’t let that kill you, and you just need to move on.
Having found success and fame now after two years on Dancing With the Stars, is it what you expected to be? Have you been able to process it yet?
Honestly, I don’t think so. I haven’t really come to terms with where [and] what my life is. It’s been such a switch. I feel like now that I was announced being a pro, and when I see people on the streets and they’re saying, “Oh my gosh, are you Hailey Bills?” I’m like, how on earth do you know who I am? It’s so weird, but it’s been a big switch-up. I think now, finally, I’m like, OK, this is what life is, and this is how we just need to live. I think I’m processing it a little bit, but I’m still in denial in a good way.
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