Derek Hough is questioning claims that Ryan Seacrest had to lecture him about his behavior on the Celebrity Wheel of Fortune set.
Seacrest, 50, recalled having to jump in during Hough’s appearance on a September episode with fellow contestants and Dancing With the Stars cast members Jenna Johnson and Bruno Tonioli. Hough, 40, apparently hopped on the game show’s 2,400-pound wheel, at first mounting the podium, which isn’t permitted.
Seacrest told USA Today on Monday, October 20, “In the commercial break, [he] was jumping on the center of the wheel and having Bruno spin it, much like the top of a cake ornament. We did say, ‘Please don’t do that. That would break it, and there’s only one of those wheels. If that breaks, we have a real problem.’”
“We had to sort of say, ‘Stick to the ledge,’” Seacrest added.
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Hough, however, had a different version of events.
“Btw, this is 1000% NOT true,” he wrote via Instagram Story on Wednesday, October 22, alongside a screenshot of Seacrest’s comments. “I would never disrespect a set like that however Awesome that would’ve been to be ‘spun around it like a cake ornament’ haha.”
In the same interview with USA Today, Seacrest reflected on his long history with Derek after dating his sister, Julianne Hough, from 2010 to 2013.
“Knowing someone, or being friends, is definitely helpful,” Seacrest noted. “You can kind of tease them more than somebody you don’t know.”
Julianne, 37, has reflected on her relationship with Seacrest in the years since.
“I had this insecurity that I was like, ‘I don’t ever want anybody to think that I’m with him for this reason,’” she explained on an August 2024 episode of Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast about how Seacrest’s hosting gigs allowed him to be in close proximity to celebrities. “And so I then started playing smaller. I know that that was his experience in past situations and stuff, and so I again overcompensated, [I] was malleable to fit into exactly what somebody needed me to be for them to be happy.”
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While she said Seacrest was a “lovely person,” Julianne recalled feeling “so oblivious” and “dissociative” during their relationship when it came to the difference between their careers.
“I had no idea that was, like, a repeated pattern,” she added. “Eventually, I remember when I decided to break things off, I had a lot of these Brentwood moms and producers in that world that were like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ They’re like, ‘Your life is completely set up.’ And I was like, ‘But I didn’t build it.’ I was like, ‘I need to create this. Competitively, it’s not mine. I need to feel the pride of doing it.’”
Derek, for his part, made a reference to Seacrest and Julianne’s past relationship during his stint on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.
“You were in Footloose back in the day, weren’t you?” Seacrest asked Derek, who replied, “I was! I starred in Footloose in the West End for like, 400 shows. And then my sister ended up being in the remake of the film. … I know you remember Ryan!”
