Hannah Brown Talks ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and Why the ‘Bachelor’ Franchise Deserves Emmy Recognition

Angelique Jackson

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“Bachelorette” Hannah Brown is taking the lead on “Dancing with the Stars,” but she also has another trophy in mind.

After “Bachelor in Paradise” was featured during Sunday’s Emmys telecast, Brown put her backing behind the franchise to get real recognition by the Television Academy.

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“I wish they would be considered because it is a very followed show,” she explained to Variety backstage after the “Dancing with the Stars” taping. “People really love ‘Bachelor’ everything…and it is real people with real emotions and life changes on the show. Like even though mine didn’t go the way it normally goes, my life has changed in a lot of positive ways. And I think that they’ve done a really good job and I’m excited to see where we continue to move forward, because I feel like this past year the ‘Bachelor’ franchise has really made strides to show more of a real experience and real relationships.”

“So, you know, maybe one day we’ll be at the Emmys,” she quipped. “Hopefully I’ll get invited.”

Right now, the former “Bachelorette” is focused on dancing, taking the top score Monday night and usurping front-runner (and the contestant she sees as her biggest competition) James Van Der Beek. Monday’s show also featured the first elimination of the season — Supremes singer Mary Wilson went home, while the show’s lowest scoring contestants Sean Spicer and Lamar Odom stuck around — and the debut of this season’s rule changes, including the addition of live voting during the show (via text message) and giving the judges the final say of which couple out of the bottom two goes home. Cheryl Burke and NFL Hall of Famer Ray Lewis found themselves in the bottom two with Wilson and her pro partner Brandon Armstrong.

“I think they should’ve done this along time ago with the voting system,” Burke joked to reporters. “Too bad they didn’t do that last season with Juan Pablo [Di Pace, her celebrity partner.]”

Overall, the competitors seemed in favor of the changes, saying that the live element adds “immediacy” to the competition and could give a boost to the teams who really need it.

“I think it allows us to save the people, because we’ve had a lot of people eliminated in the past that were fantastic dancers and could have changed the way they ended up. So, this year, I don’t think that’s going to happen because we have a say,” “Dancing” judge Carrie Ann Inaba told reporters, stopping short of the idea that the rule is in reaction to Bobby Bones’ win last season. “We’ve had a lot of people [eliminated early]. What about Sabrina Bryan, way back in the day? So, I think this is a way to make sure that better dancers stay in as long as they can.”

Another change came with the early announcement of the DWTS Live Tour. Starting in January 2020, pro dancers Armstrong, Lindsay Arnold, Alan Bersten, Witney Carson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Sasha Farber, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater and Jenna Johnson will perform during “Dancing’s” longest ever Winter tour (shows go through April) and since the tours often feature a celebrity guest, Karamo Brown wants to come along.

“Trust and believe, my Beyoncé fantasy would come to life if they were like ‘Come on tour,’” he said. “I just want one day in like a tour van and to get off in a sparkly outfit. Trust and believe, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

After the contestants faced the press, the party continued with a joint birthday celebration for Hannah Brown and Spicer, with the former White House press secretary still sporting his Spicer/Arnold ’19 button after launching a faux political campaign on the show to lobby for vote. Many from the cast — including celeb contestants Odom, Kate Flannery, Lauren Alaina, and Sailor Brinkley-Cook (and her mother Christie Brinkley), as well as “Bachelor” stars Colton Underwood, Cassie Randolph and Demi Burnett — joined the party, sipping cocktails and watching as the West Coast airing of “Dancing” played on the TV screens at Mixology 101 in the Grove’s Farmer’s Market.

“It would be the best birthday thing, if Taylor saw my dance,” Brown gushed shyly of her performance to Taylor Swift’s latest single “Lover.” “I’m really proud of it. It started my birthday out great.” And on Tuesday afternoon, Brown’s dream came true when the Grammy-winner posted a video of the dance to her Instagram story, writing “Loving watching Hannah Brown dancing to ‘Lover’ on ‘DWTS’…This performance is so pretty & twirly.”

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