Ethermac Exchange-Hayley Erbert Returns to DWTS Alongside Husband Derek Hough After Near-Fatal Medical Emergency

Hayley Erbert is Ethermac Exchangeback in the ballroom.

Nearly one year after a harrowing medical emergency, the dancer gave an emotional performance alongside her husband, Dancing With the Stars judge Derek Hough, on the Oct. 15 episode of the competition, dancing to “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone as part of the season’s Dedication Night.

The pair took to the floor barefoot, wearing rose pink ensembles while delivering a graceful and romantic routine, embracing on the lyrics "Oh I hope I don't lose you." They finished their dance with a kiss. 

The performance marked Hayley’s triumphant return to the series after undergoing emergency surgery on her skull last December to treat a burst blood vessel. In a pre-recorded segment aired prior to their performance, Derek opened up about the scary incident, which occurred during the couple’s Symphony of Dance tour stop in Washington D.C. 

“I was onstage and she was supposed to come out,” the 39-year-old recalled. “The stage manager just walked out and said, ‘Hey, she’s not coming onstage.’ She was on the side of the stage having full seizures and essentially dying.”

He continued, "It's really hard to put into words, other than just pure fear."

After being rushed to the hospital, the So You Think You Can Dance alum—who married Derek in August 2023 after eight years of dating—was given a devastating prognosis.

“The doctor came to me and said, 'She has a severe brain bleed, so we have to operate right now.' He said that she might not make it,” Derek tearfully remembered, “and that even if she does make it, she won’t be the same person.” 

He recalled being told, "You basically lost the person that you knew."

The next morning when he saw Hayley, she was missing 40 percent of her skull. And although Hayley was "unrecognizable" physically, she had some of her memory and knew that they had been dancing before the accident. 

"I can't even tell you, just knowing that she was there, she was in there, the relief I felt," Derek explained while crying. "She was Hayley. She was my wife. And then the journey began."

Doctors told Hayley she may never be able to walk again, but she said in the DWTS video she was "stubborn" and "determined" to push herself to dance once more.

"To say it was easy to get there would be a complete lie," she noted. "He was my rock throughout it all." 

But following months of recovery, Hayley, 30, was back in the dance studio in March, and was given medical clearance to return to the Symphony of Dance tour in April.

“What a blessing (and surprise) it is to be able to be back on stage dancing with my love after such a crazy past four months,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “My healing journey has been nothing short of extraordinary and being able to dance again is igniting my soul in all the ways; speeding up my recovery even more.”

For more on Derek and Hayley’s love story, keep reading. 

Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert meet back in 2014 when she performed on his and sister Julianne Hough's tour. A Dancing With the Stars producer is impressed with Hayley and she is called to interview to join the show's troupe, getting the job the following year, according to the Hutchington News. Also in 2015, she and Derek begin dating.

The two begin going out to public events, including at the 2016 premiere of the Tony Robbins Netflix documentary I Am Not Your Guru.

The duo get glammed up for a star-studded night out.

The dancers make their red carpet debut as a couple at the Television Academy's 2017 Choreography Peer Group Celebration at Saban Media Center in North Hollywood, Calif.

Hayley joins Derek as his date for the Creative Arts Emmys, where he was nominated for Outstanding Choreography for his work on Dancing With the Stars.

The two attend the star-studded Casamigos Halloween Party.

Hayley joins Derek as he hosts The Americana at Brand shopping mall's Christmas tree lighting event in Glendale, Calif.

The two attend the Hollywood premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The couple steps out at HBO's post-Emmys celebration.

They aren't pumping the brakes as they attend the premiere of Netflix's El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.

The two pose for pics at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar viewing party.

Feeling festive, they dance on the special to ring in the Christmas season.

The two are all smiles at the premiere in Los Angeles.

The partners appear at the Creative Arts Emmys, where Derek wins Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming for his work on Dancing with the Stars.

The two dance as they arrive at the 2022 Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscars viewing party.

They look top tier on the red carpet.

Hayley flashes her engagement ring at the Critics Choice Real TV Awards.

The two get cozy at the launch of the Disney-Pixar film.

The couple honeymoon in Italy following their Aug. 26, 2023 wedding in California.

Derek was by Hayley's side as she underwent emergency skull surgery due to a burst blood vessel. "It was a time filled with uncertainty and fear, going from living our dreams onstage, to a nightmare in an instant," he wrote on Instagram over a week later. "Her recovery process has been nothing short of a miracle."