Derek Hough awkwardly referred to Bachelor Nation’s Tyler Cameron by the wrong name during the Dancing With the Stars season 35 premiere.
Cameron, 33, performed a thrilling tango with pro partner Sharna Burgess to Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” to kick off the competition on Tuesday, September 15.
When it came time for Hough, 41, to provide feedback, he briefly addressed Cameron by the wrong name.
“Dylan, you have this, like, Patrick Swayze aura about you, right,” the judge noted. “You’re cool, masculine, just effortless. It really is amazing, truly.”
Hough, who could have perhaps mixed up Cameron with DWTS season 34 finalist Dylan Efron, continued to share constructive criticism for the Bachelorette alum.
“For me, the frame … we need to expand that,” Hough advised Cameron. “I know you’re a big guy, but you can handle that [and] she can handle that, absolutely. I think mirroring your presence with the technique, the frame, the posture, you’re gonna do fantastic.”
Cameron ultimately received a score of 17 out of 30, and he also earned rave reviews from fellow judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.
“Tyler, what’s going on here? I have to say I’m very pleasantly surprised,” Tonioli, 70, noted on Tuesday. “I mean, look at him, he looks like a tank. … In fact, you can move, man. You have natural musicality, a few hiccups here and there, but I’m telling you my love, you have so much potential. Can’t wait to see what you’re going to do.”
As for Inaba, 58, she gushed that she was “beyond impressed” by Cameron’s first routine.
“That was amazing. I thought you were really solid, you have a commanding performance, [but Sharna’s] foot came off the ground, so I’m going to, you know, lifts are still a thing,” she said, noting her plans to deduct from her score. “Lifts are still a thing, but what I want to say [is] just in the beginning, you didn’t finish your moves. But once you get past that, the way you carried yourself, you have commanding performance; lean into it. Well done.”
Cameron, who did not publicly address Hough’s apparent flub, also had the full support of fiancée Tate Madden in the crowd.
“It’s so exciting, like, I get to plan the rest of my life around this lovely lady,” Cameron told Us earlier this month of his engagement. “We get to do so many things together, and there’s so many firsts now we get to do together. … We’ve just gone through so much together, and I just see us doing these crazy projects, and I look over [to] her, I’m like, ‘You’re the only other person that’s crazy enough to do this stuff with me.’ I got so lucky.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
