Derek Hough may have just manifested an Earth-shattering reality crossover.

The Dancing With the Stars judge offered an intriguing challenge to Survivor winner Boston Rob Mariano in an Instagram Stories video on Thursday.

“I’ll do Survivor if Boston Rob does Dancing With the Stars,” he declared.

Now, Survivor host Jeff Probst is responding to Hough’s challenge, playfully pressuring him to follow through on his promise.

“I gotta say, I love that you just put this idea out into the ether, because I think you’re gonna be surprised how many of your fans are gonna want to see you compete on

Survivor,” the host said in a video he posted to his Instagram Stories on Saturday. “And now that you’ve issued a dare to Rob, this could get interesting, ’cause you know as well as I do that Boston Rob is the kinda guy who will take that dare and end up winning Dancing With the Stars.”


Derek Hough; Boston Rob Mariano on ‘Survivor’.Timothy Kuratek/CBS via Getty;Amy Sussman/Getty

Probst predicted that a hypothetical Boston Rob victory on DWTS would complicate Hough’s challenge even further. “Then the pressure’s really on you, because not only are you out on

Survivor with us next year — you gotta win,” he said.

Hough reacted by reposting Probst’s message on his Instagram Stories, writing “Me and my big mouth” with an emoji of a face-palming man. He added, “Also geeking out over this message.”

Hough’s Survivor promise came after he explained in his first Instagram video that he’d finally started watching the reality competition series in the past couple of weeks. “We’re obsessed,” he said. “We love watching this show. It’s very good. Probably why it’s been around for so long. But man, it’s so good.”

The dancer added that he recently discussed a potential Survivor appearance with Boston Rob, who popped up on DWTS season 34 to support his friend Dylan Efron. “Boston Rob actually asked me the other day when I saw him — he said, ‘Hey would you ever do it?’” he recalled.


Jeff Probst on ‘Survivor 49’.CBS

Mariano reposted Hough’s video on his own Instagram Stories, talking trash to him. “This is so, so brutal… I want you to suffer and starve so badly!!!” he wrote. “If I do [

DWTS]… and only if… I’m gonna make sure @jeffprobst brings back the 39-day version [of Survivor] just for you!” (Survivor seasons were reduced to 26-day shoots in 2021.)

For now, the dancing shoes are in Mariano’s court. But don’t be surprised if the decision quickly falls to Hough. We all know Boston Rob loves a challenge…