Dancing With the Stars' Derek Hough and Mark Ballas Ace Gender-Bending Tango Performance

Derek Hough and Mark Ballas proved they’re not just best friends, they're also legendary dance partners.

On the season 33 finale of Dancing With the Stars Nov. 26, the current judge and fellow pro dancer took to the dance floor to perform an Argentine Tango to "Libertango" by Tango Bardo.

"Tonight, my buddy Mark Ballas and I are going to be bringing you a little ballroom history by dancing an Argentine Tango the way it was originally intended," Derek, 39, explained on the show, "with two male dancers."

He and Mark, 38, noted how the dance, which dates back to the 19th century, originally featured two male performers because they outnumbered women in their communities at the time. 

"Most people would think the Argentine Tango is a very sexy, intimate, embracing moment between a man and a woman but this is gonna be a dance between two males," Mark said. "There's gonna be more masculine energy there."

And their performance scored 10s across the board.

"I thought it was hot," celebrity guest Seann William Scott told Dancing With the Stars cohost Alfonso Ribiero. "That was sexy."

Of course, it’s no surprise that Mark and Derek’s chemistry was center stage during their dance. The longtime BFFs grew up and trained in ballroom dancing together, with Derek and his sister Julianne Hough living with Mark's family in England for years as they trained as kids.

The men's performance is not the show's first same-sex dance. That took place in 2016, Nyle DiMarco and pro dancer Keo Motsepe also danced an Argentine Tango, set to "Habanera" by Georges Bizet., while taking part in a group routine with their respective season 22 partners Peta Murgatroyd and Jodie Sweetin (Nyle and Peta went on to win the Mirrorball Trophy.)

Then in 2021, Jojo Siwa and dance partner Jenna Johnson became the first official same-sex duo to compete on the U.S. version of Dancing With the Stars. And while Jenna didn’t see victory that year she and The Bachelor alum Joey Graziadei are the reigning Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy recipient after being announced as winners during the season 33 finale.

Keep reading for a look back on the full cast of contestants during the most recent season of DWTS...