Dancing with the Stars is known to sport a celebrity roster, but the show has never had a star quite like Ezra Sosa.
After joining the long-running reality dance competition show as a member of the dance troupe in 2021, the Utah-born 24-year-old was promoted in season 33 to professional dancer status. Sosa’s freshman run saw him partnered with Anna Delvey, the convicted fraudster who inspired Netflix’s Julia Garner-led Inventing Anna.
Instead of shying away from the controversy, he leaned in, enticing fans and carving a pathway for himself to emerge as a fixture of DWTS, on-and-offscreen. The dancer’s ability to make lemons out of lemonade during his 2024 DWTS run — paired with the fact he drew in a younger demographic to the show in the process — may have primed him to be matched with Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles for season 34. And Sosa himself would agree with that sentiment, he tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“Girl, I know for a fact it is,” he jokes when asked if being partnered with the Gold medalist was his reward for last season. “I was told that a lot of people a part of the show were really hoping that I got a good partner this year. … So the fact I get to share this experience with Jordan, an Olympian, I am so honored. I really am.”
Below, Sosa reveals what it’s really like being a pro dancer on the show, the secret behind his shining social media popularity, if he agrees with fanfare claiming he attracted the show’s newfound Gen Z audience and his dream DWTS celebrity partner.
Last year was your first season as a pro dancer on DWTS. When you got that call and you realized that you were going to be a pro on the show, what was running through your head?
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. During that time, I was so confident I was never going to be on the show again, so I already took a job in New York. I was workshopping a Broadway show. My mind, my heart, was set onto another journey. So when I got the call, the EP of the show was like, “Are you okay?” Because I literally sounded like I had the worst news of my life, I just couldn’t speak. I just couldn’t believe it. But it was after that I just sat with myself and I knew my life was gonna change.
You have this huge presence online, and there’s this conversation amongst fans that you breathed new life into the show with your social media presence. Do you agree with that? What would you say to someone who says you revamped the show and brought it to this modern era?
Hey, if I agree to that, I’d sound so narcissistic. So I’m gonna say gnar [no in an Australian accent], because I think what I do is just social media, and I have done it ever since I was a kid. I’m just chronically online, and for one year of my life, it really paid to be chronically online. But in essence, I really do think that me and Rylee [Arnold] starting to post a lot helped all the other pros do it as well. I was the most behind the scenes, I leaned into the tea, I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind, and I definitely feel like bringing that energy to the show was very new. It was really refreshing.
Do you feel pressure going into this next season to keep up your social media presence?
God, I feel that pressure immensely. And especially being out on tour, I would be meeting fans of the show with Daniella [Karagach], and they’re like, “Daniella, your dancing is amazing!” And they’ll look at me, like, “Ezra, we love your TikTok.” So ever since then, I took it upon myself, [and thought,] “Okay, I guess social media is my thing.” And after tour, I felt that pressure a hundred percent. And honestly, going into next season, all I can do is just take what I have and just be myself the best I could possibly be.
What was your reaction when you were gearing up to meet your partner and you saw Jordan Chiles?
It was the biggest sigh of relief of my life. I definitely feel like just seeing her and seeing her energy come in, and just [light] up the room, it really filled my heart with so much joy. And when I met her, it was very interesting, because do you know when you meet those people that you swear you’ve met before? It was like that. I kept on pulling her aside. I’m like, “Are you sure? Like, were you at this event?” I was like, “Oh, we’ve definitely met before.” And she was like, “We have not.” But we instantly clicked. It just made me even more excited for the rehearsals that I get to spend with her now.
Jordan Childs and Ezra Sosa on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Do you think, given everything you gave to the show last season and all the eyes that you brought onto it, being partnered with Jordan was the Dancing with the Stars Gods rewarding you for last year?
Girl, I know for a fact it is. I was told multiple times that a lot of people a part of the show were really hoping that I got a good partner this year. And obviously I also wanted a good partner. But you never know what happens. So the fact I get to share this experience with Jordan, an Olympian, I am so honored. I really am.
You have joked online that being partnered with Jordan, you now have a chance at the Mirrorball Trophy. How does your teaching and preparation process shift from last year, working with Anna Delvey, to this year working with Jordan Chiles?
I definitely feel that having this partner which is more capable — she can flip, she can turn, she’s a very capable person — it means that it’s going to really challenge me as a choreographer a lot more, because there’s a lot more I can showcase from her. And the fact that she can do so much means I have more opportunity to showcase my choreography. But it means that I have to just crack that whip more, and the fact that I have an Olympian who is used to a very rigorous training schedule, I quickly knew that I had to adapt my teaching style to accommodate that.
It feels like you’ve influenced all the pros to start posting online, alongside Rylee. Do you think that has shifted the type of stars that they’re bringing onto the show? It feels like they’re shifting into casting social media influencers.
Yeah, it’s honestly refreshing to see that too. Even when I first started on the show, they didn’t really give influencers much notoriety to be on the show. So then I’m like, “Guys, let’s do TikTok,” no one really got into it. And I’m like, “Hey, this TikTok star, if they got on the show, they’d be so huge.” So it’s really refreshing, as someone who is so Gen Z, to see them starting to cater to those celebrities, because those are the people that we’re obsessed with and that we’re so excited to watch.
How do you juggle your social presence and your professional dance career, as they’re both very different avenues of your career?
Ooh, it’s very interesting, because this was the first year that I really sat with myself and was like, “Wait, I have another source of income.” Like, that’s basically how I saw it. But when it comes down to that, it honestly gives myself a little bit of a break from dance. And I always say my relationship with dance is like a relationship with anyone else, and especially after tour, I was dancing every single day, so I wasn’t really the most excited to get into a dance studio. But because of [social media], it gave me kind of a step away from dance, because I’m a dance-driven diva, and it gave me a life, and I was able to go enjoy and do other things. And now that I’m revisiting dance and going into next season, it makes me so excited and pumped to just get back on my feet, really.
Do you read the comments on your social posts from fans?
Not all the time. That’s something that I’ve learned is very unhealthy to do. And especially with the season — I don’t think there’s been this much buzz going into a season — when I come home, I really try to make sure that I’m not really buried in my phone. I get tired, I fall asleep, but I do look in the comments. But also, I love just having a thought, and then I look in the comments and it’s, like, the same thing. I’m like, we’re tapped in, and that’s what I love about the internet.
What do you think when you do read those comments that are tapped in and praising you for what you’ve brought to the show? How does that feel when you see that reception?
It definitely feels nice. It really does. Ever since I joined the show, I never thought I’d actually make it this far in the Dancing with the Stars universe, so it’s a huge dream come true. And what’s really cool too is the fact I get to go on tour, and people actually, like, scream my name. I’m like, “Oh my gosh, people actually know who I am.” So the fact that there is recognition, it’s really rewarding in so many ways, and also, [I’m] like so honored that so many people are touched by my social media savviness.
Ezra Sosa
Photograph by Aurelio
Since the GMA reveal, a lot of fans have been saying that Rylee was partnered with Scott Hoying because he’s the “millennial Ezra.” What do you think about those comparisons?
I will freaking take it because I freaking love Scott. He is such a diva, and I’m actually super excited for their partnership. I know that Rylee loves her gays. I’m like her Dancing with the Stars gay bestie, and now she’s going to have an actual gay bestie partner on the show. And I definitely feel like her personality is going to shine a lot through Scott, and I’m really excited to see that.
It is such a busy time for you. How are you taking time for yourself, to stay present in these career-changing moments, but also making sure that you’re tapped in with yourself?
I really try my best to focus on my physical health, and that doesn’t mean going to the gym every single day, but also like listening to my body. Usually when I start the season, I shut everything off and I’m just focused on one thing, but this season, I’m really just trying to connect with my friends throughout the season. I always feel like those [outside connections] really helped me just ground myself and put the show in perspective. Because when you’re in it all the time, it is hard to see it for what it truly is. It is just a dance show, and when I get to just see my friends and hang out with them, it helps just bring that lightheartedness back into my perspective of the show.
What is something about being a pro dancer for Dancing with the Stars that would shock people?
How much work we do. As a professional dancer on this show, you have to wear a lot of unsaid hats. Yes, we have producers on the show, and yes, we have wardrobe, and yes, we have a whole department for literally anything you can think of. But as a pro, you have to look at all those departments and be a voice for your celebrity. So, you have to understand what it’s like to produce a show, to really understand what your partner is trying to tell you. You have to understand music and cool song choices to fit a song that your celebrity is actually going to like, and then costume, and then choreography, and then actually teaching them. And then you’re also like a mental coach too, so you’re always wanting to make sure that they’re okay. So you’re like lowkey a therapist now. There’s so many different hats that you wear, but when you are really in the thick of it, it is so much fun to do, and there’s no other job like this, and that’s why it’s been my dream ever since I was a kid.
Before Dancing with the Stars, you were on So You Think You Can Dance. As you continue to evolve in your career, do you see yourself going on any other reality shows? Maybe The Traitors or Celebrity Big Brother?
I definitely see that in my future. I think right now, my mind is set on a Mirrorball [Trophy]. That is all I’m thinking of every day, training, going to the gym, getting my mind, my body right. But I think especially after last season, it kind of opened doors for me to see myself in the reality TV space.
Who is your dream Dancing with the Stars partner? And I don’t want you to say Trisha Paytas, because y’all have already been vouching for that online.
You took my answer! Honestly, Blue Ivy. When she turns 18, I think she would be so amazing on the show. And I think it’s really cool to see a celebrity like her really putting in the effort. Like, yes, she is a nepo baby, but she also is working so hard, and you can see her progression on stage. And that kind of work ethic really inspires me. So I hope, like in my dreams, it’s Blue Ivy. It was Beyoncé, but now it’s Blue Ivy.
Heading into season 34, what is your goal with Jordan? Are you looking to win the Mirrorball?
Whenever I meet my partner, I always ask them what their personal goal is, and that is my job to make it my goal that they achieve it. She wants to win a Mirrorball, so my goal this season is to win a freaking Mirrorball.
