Allison Holker Joins 'So You Think You Can Dance' as Judge, Just Under 1 Year After the Passing of Husband Stephen 'tWitch' Boss
Allison Holker returns to judge on 'So You Think You Can Dance' Season 18, honoring her late husband, Stephen 'tWitch' Boss, whom she met as a contestant on the show
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Allison Holker is returning to the show where she first met her late husband, Stephen “tWitch” Boss.
On Wednesday, December 6, Fox revealed that Holker, 35, and former Dancing With the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy are set to join season 18 of So You Think You Can Dance, scheduled to return in March 2024. The pair will serve as judges, joining veteran judge Nigel Lythgoe and guest judge Comfort Fedoke. Cat Deeley will also be returning as host.
“Thrilled and grateful to announce I’ll be judging for SYTYCD @danceonfox!!” Holker announced on Instagram, sharing a video of herself celebrating the new opportunity. “It's an absolute dream come true!!! A full-circle moment that has changed my life in every way. IM HOME!! And sitting next to people I admire and love is just perfection!!”
Nearly a year after her husband Boss's death, Holker made an announcement. Boss had been found dead at a Los Angeles hotel in December 2022, just days after the couple's ninth wedding anniversary. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed that he died by suicide at the age of 40. In a statement to People at the time of his passing, Holker described him as a loving husband and father who valued family, friends, and community above all else.
Holker and Boss first crossed paths during season 2 of SYTYCD in 2006, with her competing as a contestant and him serving as a choreographer. Their paths crossed again when she came back as an All-Star for season 7 of the dance competition series.
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Despite not recalling meeting him in 2006, Holker admitted to Dance Spirit in 2012 that she thought Boss was the "most adorable guy" when they met again four years later. Following a night out, the duo became inseparable.
"I spotted him at the opposite side of the room and he gestured for me to come over," Holker recalled. "We went upstairs and danced non-stop for three hours." Boss chimed in, "We danced the whole night and we've been together ever since."
The couple officially became husband and wife in December 2013 after three years of courtship, exchanging vows at Lythgoe’s vineyard in California. Their family grew with the arrival of son Maddox in 2016 and daughter Zaia in 2019. Boss also embraced fatherhood to Holker’s daughter from a previous relationship, Weslie, whom he officially adopted in 2008.
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Following Boss’ passing, Holker has been open about her experience with grief while being in the public spotlight. "I still feel like the rest of the world where I’m still shocked,” she revealed on the Today show in May. “No one’s ready for that moment and there’s no one that saw this coming. No one — and that breaks my heart too.”
After almost a year of grieving, Holker finally laced up her dancing shoes in September. She shared the emotional moment on social media, posting a video of her performance on Instagram. "It truly felt amazing to dance again," she wrote. "I was filled with so many emotions - fear and excitement. But dance has always been my constant...even now, and I am incredibly thankful for that."
