Dancing With the Stars fans might be confused about Mark Ballas’ accent, but his mom has all the answers.
“OK, Mum, some people want to know why my accent goes in and out. Why it sometimes sounds British and why it sometimes sounds American,” Mark, 38, asked his mother, Shirley Ballas, in a TikTok video posted on Tuesday, December 31. “And why it’s a bit spotty.”
Shirley, 64, explained to followers it’s because Mark has “a full English mother who was born and raised in Liverpool in England.” His father, Corky Ballas, is from Texas.
“You have listened to your mother’s accent all your life. From Liverpool, you know what I mean?” she continued. “When you were a little boy, you were all English.”
Shirley went on to say that Mark was raised in Great Britain from age 4 to 21 before he moved to America.
“You are what we call half and half,” Shirley added. “You don’t realize, actually, how British you are. But I love it when I hear you on Dancing With the Stars and you’ve got that English twang.”
@markballas1 Replying to @User0570157 I Had to let the QUEEN OF LATIN give some of yous a Histroy Lesson 🤣🇬🇧 @Shirley Ballas
Mark’s TikTok video came in reply to a commenter who claimed that he was putting on his accent “for show.”
“I Had to let the QUEEN OF LATIN give some of yous a Histroy [sic] Lesson,” Mark captioned the clip, referring to Shirley’s history as a professional dancer and Strictly Come Dancing judge.
Mark was a DWTS pro from 2007 to 2016. After taking a two-year hiatus, he returned for season 25 in 2017. Mark stepped away from the show once again before returning for season 31 in 2022, which has been his final season as a pro thus far. The dancer has, however, made a special return to the show as a guest judge over the years.
While he might be taking a step back from DWTS for now, Mark’s longtime friend Derek Hough (who is currently a judge on the show alongside Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli) is hoping that the fellow professional dancer will make a more permanent return — specifically at the judges’ table.
“I’m absolutely here for it,” Hough, 39, told Us Weekly exclusively in October 2024. “I think Mark has a lot to offer. He has a lot of wisdom and insight and experience.”
Hough noted that Mark does come from a family of “experts,” referring to Shirley, who “happens to be the head judge” of DWTS in the U.K. “I would love it.”
