Julianne Hough is paired with Chuck Wicks. Julianne and Chuck performed a Waltz to the song “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” by Elvis Presley Download MP3 on Amazon. They received a score of 20 for their waltz. The call in number for Julianne and Chuck is 800-VOTE4-06 (800-86834-06) and the text number for AT&T subscribers is 3406.

If you didn’t vote last night, then please vote for Julianne and Derek next week.

I talked with Marriann today and we’re thinking about working out a way for Marriann to possibly record a quick audio “podcast” about Derek and Julianne. I would then post the audio for everyone to enjoy. We’ll see how that goes and if it works out the way we’d like it to work out.

Marriann is very excited for the next season of Dancing with the Stars. I’m sure everyone saw the Dancing with the Stars couples. Derek is paired with Grammy Award winning rapper Lil’ Kim. Julianne is paired with country singer (and boyfriend) Chuck Wicks.

Should be another exciting season of Dancing with the Stars. Hopefully Marriann and myself will have time to share some interesting details on the life of Derek and Julianne.

I (John) have been assisting Marriann with this website (read more here) and it just so happened that my wife and I were going to be in Southern California on the night of the finale. Marriann was very gracious and said that we could come backstage on the show and possibly get in to see the finale. The following 2 pictures were taken by Marriann of my wife and I with Chuck and Shannon.

They were both very nice to us. We had a nice little conversation with Chuck and Julianne and Chuck looked very cute together. Shannon Elizabeth looked wonderful. Near the end of Derek and Brooke’s dance at the finale, I glanced over to where Shannon was sitting and she was beaming. It was a very sweet moment that the cameras didn’t catch, but was really quite wonderful.

Sorry to borrow Marriann’s blog for a moment, but I thought that fans of Derek and Julianne would enjoy the pictures and would need to know why my wife and I were in the pictures. My only regret was that I wasn’t able to get a picture of Julianne with Chuck and Derek with Shannon. I’m sure Marriann will post some of those in the future.

Thanks Marriann for giving us a once in a lifetime opportunity to be at the finale.

More pictures to come from behind the scenes. A couple pictures a day for the next few days should be good, right?

Don’t forget to enter to win a signed copy of Julianne’s Holiday CD. We’ll be giving them away really soon. You might as well go out and buy the CD now. If you win the contest, then you can just give the CD to someone you love as a nice Christmas gift.

Thanksgiving was great. We have another day to go to the indoor gocarts, La Reve, and a birthday party for Julianne’s sister Marabeth at the Palazzo in Vegas with the family and People magazine.

I am very proud and was so excited to be at the show this week after flying in from Nashville and Driving to California from Vegas to see Derek Dance and take the trophy tuesday night.

Derek unfortunately could not be with us for Thanksgiving. His rigorous schedule is keeping him so busy. Tuesday night Derek flew on a private plane to New York for Good Morning America and some other talk shows the following day.

He flew back from NY to CA Thanksgiving day and has to be in the studio friday to rehearse with the band and start rehearsing to go on tour with dancing with the stars. His schedule is up at 4 AM, meeting, talking and playing for the radio stations. Then, that night performing for dancing with the stars, and then play at a venue with his band after the show for a couple of hours. Then, start the next day, up at four and same schedule for 5 days a week for two months. I’ll see him either in Vegas or in Nashville.

I’ll start uploading a few pictures from backstage on Dancing with the Stars later tonight or tomorrow.

I talked with Marriann today and she had a number of comments about Julianne’s elimination on the show last night. Obviously Marriann was sad to see Julianne eliminated, but she kind of saw it coming considering the scores they received. Marriann told me that Julianne was just sad for Cody since Cody had been working so hard. However, both Marriann and Julianne are cheering on Derek and Brooke and hope they take home the trophy.

Marriann also wanted to share a few thoughts about Brooke. She told me she thinks Brooke is a really hard worker and very serious in her approach to the competition, but still a mom. Marriann is excited to see Derek and Brooke perform in the finals and thinks they have a very good chance.

On a different note, Marriann and I are putting together a contest with a few special giveaways just in time for the Holidays. Check back soon for details of the contest.

Finally, you’ll have a chance to see Derek at one of the Dancing with the Stars tour dates and locations.

Well, I spent most of the day yesterday getting my tires changed. I was going to change them three trips ago. Traveling back and forth from Vegas to L.A. for Dancing with the Stars does a number on the wear and tear of the car.

This friday in People magazine, Julianne will be talking about her endometriosis with pictures of her and her puppy (I’m in there too). Her puppy has been on antibiotics but after three weeks it seemed the medicine was also making her tummy hurt.

For all the animal lovers, which all the Hough kids are! You might be interested that we put Julianne’s puppy on a different brand of dog food. We are giving her vitamins and it has really seemed to help.

I was so proud of Derek and Brooke. They looked great Monday night. Derek choreograghed two dances one for Brooke and one for the team. He did a great job in both dances. I loved the blue costumes for the paso. And amidst all the teaching and practices, Derek spent two weeks every night after practice to decorate Shannon’s house for a Halloween party and scavenger hunt. The decorations were amazing. Lasers, smoke, spider webs, hanging skeletons, D.J. and dancing, it was a great success. Derek loves holidays. I always made holidays and birthdays a big deal. It’s fun to see the tradition carried on.

I am going to the results show tonight. I’m hoping to have dinner with Derek after the show. He is so busy after the show he goes to the studio with the band and works on their album that will be released in March. The band will be going on tour in December promoting the album. I am so excited. Their music has a very unique sound that distinguishes them from other bands. They are great musicians. Derek’s schedule is so busy but he loves what he does.

Julianne and I watched the show on T.V. Julianne thought the dance was great and beautiful. I loved the dress Brooke was wearing. After the result show, the dancers get their new music for the next week and they (Derek) design the costume they will be wearing usually that same night. The wardrobe team works 24 hrs. around the clock until Saturday. The dancers and Stars come for a fitting and Sunday they make any adjustments for Monday and even Monday they sometimes are making last minute alterations. I Salute the wardrobe team because they really work hard on a limited budget. I sew and I appreciate their work!

Til next time!

Sending pictures soon.
Marriann

In the meantime, in a game similar to Where’s Waldo, did anyone see Derek’s mom in the audience on tonight’s show? I’ll give you a hint, she was on camera multiple times.

Also, for those keeping score, last week Marriann was very excited about something on the show. If you guessed that it was Julianne and Derek dancing together, then you were right. Marriann was so happy to be able to see her son and daughter dancing together on the show.

In the meantime, in a game similar to Where’s Waldo, did anyone see Julianne’s mom in the audience on tonight’s show? I’ll give you a hint, she was on camera multiple times.

Also, for those keeping score, last week Marriann was very excited about something on the show. If you guessed that it was Julianne and Derek dancing together, then you were right. Marriann was so happy to be able to see her son and daughter dancing together on the show.