It turns out the best reality dating show is actually Dancing With the Stars. On August 26, former DWTS pro and current judge Derek Hough wed his longtime castmate Hayley Erbert, whom he began dating when she joined the dance competition in 2015.
“You fill my heart with so much joy. I love our crazy adventures together or just sitting on the couch with our bodies entangled watching a movie,” Hough wrote of Erbert in an Instagram birthday tribute from October 2018. “I find myself smiling at you in random moments. Fully feeling the effect you’ve made in my life. This surprising journey fills my heart with so much gratitude.”
But how did their love story really begin and what comes next? Here is Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert’s complete relationship timeline.
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
2014: Hough hires Erbert for his and his sister Julianne’s “MOVE Live on Tour” production, which is how she was discovered by Dancing With the Stars producers. “They got my contact information from Derek and Julianne, called me, and set up an interview,” she later tells The Hutchinson News. “I interviewed right after I got off tour and found out a couple of weeks later that I was on Season 21.”
September 2015: Hough joins the cast of Dancing With the Stars as a troupe member. This is Hough’s 16th season as a pro on the show, having joined in 2007. The pair reportedly began dating during this time but kept their romance under wraps.
November 30, 2016: Hough seems to confirm he’s seeing someone during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “I see myself married with kids within the next five years,” Hough said at the time, per Us Weekly. When asked if he had a romantic partner, he replied, “Perhaps, maybe I am.”