Note: This story contains spoilers from the “Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro” finale.
“Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro” was a realtime experiment, giving one talented dancer the opportunity of a lifetime to join the next season of the ABC dance competition alongside a celebrity partner.
The spinoff series put 12 dancers through the ringer, testing their ballroom technique, choreography and teaching skills. But only one contestant would have the chance to bring their talents to the ballroom this fall.
Executive producer Conrad Green told TheWrap that, while there was a bit of hesitation in bringing on a completely new face to the flagship series, by the time they made it to the finale, he was confident they had found a new pro capable of the task.
“There was a bit of hesitation,” he admitted, “But whenever we’ve put pros on the show before, they didn’t go through anything like this kind of veto process … None of our dancers have ever had to go through what these 12 went through.”
The finale saw Selena Hamilton, AJ Pritchard and Adele Zaikman compete in a simulated finale experience of “Dancing With the Stars.” All prior episodes of “The Next Pro” were pre-taped, but the finale was recorded in front of a studio audience.
Green said that this was intentional. Each challenge presented to the future professional dancers was a test of what they would actually face on the flagship series. Whether it was creating a “wow moment” or teaching an amateur, each task prepared them for a career on “DWTS.”
Former finalists Charli D’Amelio, Adam Rippon and Neev Schulman joined the final three professional dancers as celebrity partners. The “Next Pro” finalists had just three days to choreograph and teach two dances to their celebrity before performing in front of the studio audience.
“What was really impressive was just how much choreography they were giving their partners at that stage,” Green said. “I was super impressed by that finale, and it was kind of a validation of the process that if any one of those three finalists had won it, they would have been a great pro.”
Ultimately, Adele Zaikman took home the top prize of becoming the Next Pro on “Dancing With the Stars.” AJ Pritchard came just behind her in second place with Selena Hamilton coming in third.
Zaikman is a Latin ballroom champion and received little to no negative feedback from the judging panel during the season. Her greatest challenge still awaits her, though. She will be a first-time Pro on “DWTS” Season 35, premiering Sept. 15.
When asked what advice Green — who has been a part of “DWTS” since the beginning — gave Zaikman about her first season, he said simply “you’ve earned this.”
“All I’ve been saying to her is you’ve earned this in a way that no other dancers ever had to earn a place on this show, so don’t feel any sense of sort of imposter syndrome,” he said. “The key bit for [Zaikman] is have fun, actually, and be creative.”
Zaikman had to keep the secret that she would be joining the show since “The Next Pro” wrapped production in April. While there has not been an announcement yet of who her partner may be, Green hinted that he wanted to give her someone that would help her relax and be fun to be around in rehearsals.
Green also did not shut down the idea of keeping the spinoff series going beyond this season. He told TheWrap they would “definitely consider bringing it back.”
“That would be a discussion with the network. I think it’s been really good for the show,” he said. “If we were to do it, we’d probably tweak it a bit because this is the first season, and we’d want there to be surprises … but essentially the principle would be the same.”
The full “Dancing With the Stars” Season 35 cast will be revealed on “Good Morning America” Wednesday. See who will join Zaikman then.
The post ‘Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro’ EP Breaks Down First Winner and Teases Their Celebrity Partner appeared first on TheWrap.
