After Nearly Two Decades on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ Mark Ballas Earns His Seat at the Table

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Mark Ballas is not a gatekeeper. That’s why, just in the last year, he’s lent his talents to two Emmy-nominated television shows and uplifted Chicago to new box office heights.

And now, he’s claiming his spot on the judging panel of the mint Dancing With the Stars spinoff The Next Pro, which will find the main show’s next professional dancer to join the season 35 cast this fall.

“I like to serve. I like to help,” Ballas tells The Hollywood Reporter at the Next Pro premiere watch party in Hollywood Monday night. “I like to give advice where I can if people want it. I’m not a gatekeeper.”

Ballas has been a part of the Dancing With the Stars family since 2007, when he joined the cast as a pro dancer for season five. Since then, he has remained a fixture of the franchise, earning an Emmy nomination in 2011 and winning three Mirrorball Trophies. He is the second-most winning pro from the show, second only to main Dancing judge Derek Hough and tied with Val Chemerinsky.