Tyler Cameron hopes his Dancing With the Stars journey would have made his late mother, Andrea Cameron, proud.
“I mean, mine’s for my mom. You know, this is about honoring her,” Tyler, 33, exclusively told Us after the Tuesday, September 15, premiere, revealing his inspiration for competing in the ballroom. “She would have pushed me to do this show. Right when I got The Bachelorette, she was like, ‘You should go do Dancing With the Stars. You’d be amazing.’”
Andrea, who is survived by her husband and two sons, died in 2020 after a sudden brain aneurysm at the age of 55. (Tyler had appeared on Hannah Brown’s season 15 of The Bachelorette one year earlier in 2019, finishing as the runner-up.)
“So, to be here to do this, I wish she was here watching this because this would have made my mom probably the happiest I could have ever made [her],” Tyler mused on Tuesday. “It’s incredible, but I get to do it with this super mom, [Sharna Burgess]. I am very honored to be here on her comeback season.”
Tyler joins pro dancer Burgess, 41, in her first competitive appearance in the ballroom since 2021. They surprised the judges with their fiery tango set to Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” earning a total score of 17 out of 30.
“I felt it was like our best dance,” he told Us. “We actually got to dance with each other and see each other and enjoy each other. It was incredible. I’m just on a high. I can’t wait for next week.”
Burgess noted that she was “pleasantly surprised” to receive 6s from the judging panel.
“We know they’re going to start low [to] give us somewhere to go,” she said. “We felt like we had a great dance, great critiques from them, all fair, but getting that higher score was just amazing.”
The experience was especially “unreal” for Burgess considering her highly anticipated ballroom comeback.
“In many ways, [it felt] like I never left. Stepping back out onto this floor just feels comfortable and like home,” she said. “But, at the same time, coming back to do this with Tyler, the show is insanely magical right now. There’s just so much around it, and being a part of it in this form is such a gift. I’m so grateful. He’s the best partner I could have asked for coming into this. His work ethic, his approach as a general human, he’s just a joy to be in the room with.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. The two-part premiere continues Wednesday, September 16.
