With several seasons of Dancing With the Stars under their belt — and 11 celebrity partners between them — Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov know their way around the ABC ballroom. And now, they’re answering all of Us Weekly’s burning questions.
The Types of Celebrities
When Us pointed out that there are a few types of celebrities who are often cast for the show — actors, athletes, reality stars — Daniella replied that she’s “grateful to even be on” a season … but did admit she would love an F1 driver as a partner! (Hélio Castroneves won season 5 with Julianne Hough, while James Hinchcliffe came second in season 23 with partner Sharna Burgess.)
“They haven’t had an F1 person in a long time. Some of the videos I’ve seen, they dance well,” she said. “I can imagine someone like Lewis Hamilton, that would be insane. We’re into F1.”
Pasha, for his part, is also hoping to work with an athlete at some point. “I’ve never had an athlete. They’re very aware of their bodies, the discipline is there,” he said of why he believes athletes often perform well on the series. “Of course, it depends on what kind of athlete, they will have their own advantages, but you can use them in at least some dance style. If you have a football player, they usually light on their feet — so a quick step [or] jive could be good.”
Daniella picked Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles as a good potential partner for her husband. “She needs redemption for what happened to her,” she said, referring to the controversial ruling that stripped Chiles of her 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal. “We need her on.”
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Finding Out Your Partner
“Sometimes people think that we know [the cast in advance] and we don’t. We find out when everybody else finds out,” Pasha said, noting that they don’t even know if they were officially “picked up” as pros for season 34 yet. “A few days before you meet your celeb, that’s when you know if you are on a season.”
Pasha noted that the news that Alix Earle and Robert Irwin will compete on the upcoming installment is a good sign of what is to come. “The first two celebs are already so amazing, so I can only imagine what the season is going to look like.”
“People in the comments, like, ‘Oh, this is a hint for their partner.’ I’m like, ‘I wish. I don’t even know who my partner is!” Danielle added.
Guest Judges
The current DWTS judges’ panel includes Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli. The show also rotates in guest judges, who range from former pro Mark Ballas to musicians like Kiss’ Gene Simmons and Michael Bublé, throughout the season.
After joking that his feelings on the guest judges “depend on which score they give me,” Pasha acknowledged that “lately there’s been some guest judges who haven’t been as generous with their scores.” Still, he thinks they mostly bring something positive to the ballroom.
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“I think it depends on who it is. But at the same time, I feel like every guest judge brings their own perspective. Maybe they don’t bring, specifically, dance knowledge, but they are still from the entertainment industry,” he said. “They’re still looking for something that, I think, you should bring as a performer. … Acting is part of the dance. If it’s a musician like Michael Bublé, you know, if you are in the pocket and you’re moving to the rhythm really well, that matters to him. So yes, it may be that they don’t judge your technique or your ballroom technique, but I’m sure they’re judging something of value in your performance.”
Daniella agreed that she loves “having outside judges” hand out scores —, before throwing a little bit of shade.
“When they’re not talking about, like, looks or something — when they’re talking about the dancing,” she said. (Simmons came under fire last season for making remarks about several female stars’ appearances.) “As Pasha said, they’re all artists. They’re so creative. And sometimes it’s nice to hear something from the outside world of just performing, like, what can I do better in terms of performance with my partner? [Choreographer] Mandy Moore, [for example], is not a ballroom specialist, but I always love to hear what she has to say because she’s such an icon in the dance industry.”
Daniella also wants to see Ballas as a permanent judge.
“Mark and Derek are two ballroom specialists. They have competed against each other too. They’ve been in the ballroom world since babies and they know the ins and outs and the technique. They’re very, very much specialists in this show,” she said. “I love the fact that Mark came in and he was able to say, not just, ‘Your frame was not great.’ Like, what about it was not great? He gave advice on how to fix it for the next week or for the next process. I love when there’s feedback and there’s something to back it up. It was really cool to have him as a judge.”
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Themes
While they’ve been on the same page thus far, Pasha and Daniella have different takes on the DWTS theme nights.
“I personally don’t like the themes!” Daniella admitted, before clarifying that she does look forward to Disney night every year. “Ballroom dance is all I did and all I knew. Now I’m more open to other styles, but ballroom is something that’s in my blood and, for me, to put a theme on it is so foreign. You can’t dance a proper Argentine Tango to a pop song or a Cha Cha to a hip hop song.”
Daniella “likes a clean Latin night,” but doesn’t get excited when it’s “Hair Metal Night” or a Grease theme. “When it has the themes, it kind of kills me inside a little bit,” she said with a laugh. “I’m just like, ‘Oh God, I have to wear a wig again.’”
Pasha, however, likes a theme — depending on his dance style that week. “For example, when we had Motown Week, that music is perfect for a dance like Quickstep and I was lucky enough to have Quickstep that week. But if that week you have a Paso Doble, it’s not great for you because there is not really Motown music that would fit that,” he explained. “But if you have Taylor Swift night and you have a Viennese waltz? Amazing.”
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Daniella noted that Swift was an example of an artist who covered several genres, which makes it easier, too. So is there another artist who she would be on board with for a theme night? “Bad Bunny,” she told Us.
Pasha is also more down with the over-the-top costumes, noting he was “dressed as a cat” more than once when he performed with Carole Baskin on season 29. “Being a full lion where I can’t really hear myself or see anything that’s going on behind the mask and still trying to lead my partner, you definitely have to adjust a lot,” he said as Daniella called him “a good sport.”
“I would never,” she said. “I’d be like, ‘Draw some whiskers on me.’”
Showmances
Nearly every season of DWTS comes with rumors of a relationship forming in the ballroom. Last season, Gleb Savchenko and Brooks Nader’s on-again, off-again / will-they, won’t-they partnership caused chaos all over social media.
Daniella and Pasha caution that, in general, “there’s so much craziness that if you weren’t there, you don’t know [the half of it].”
When Us joked that a reality show following the DWTS pros would be gold TV, Daniella and Pasha agreed. “It would be entertaining,” she said.
For more from Daniella and Pasha, watch the video above, Dancing With the Stars will return to ABC in fall 2025.
