‘Dancing With The Stars’: Derek Hough Has Baby Koala Named After Him, Nick Carter Dancing To Backstreet Boys Song

Dancing with the Stars competitors are reflecting on their most memorable years during tonight’s episode of the show, and there are three performances that will probably be generate a lot of buzz no matter how high they score.

The first is Derek Hough and Bindi Irwin’s emotional contemporary routine. Bindi’s most memorable year was 2006, the year she and the rest of the world lost the larger-than-life personality that was her father, beloved wildlife expert Steve Irwin. According to Broadway World, Bindi and Derek will be dancing to Aaron Krause and Liza Anne’s version of the tearjerker tune “Every Breath You Take.”

In his Dancing with the Stars TV Guide blog, Derek Hough revealed that he and Bindi Irwin are doing a routine that’s “very emotionally charged and very powerful.” Derek commended Bindi for bravely sharing the very personal story of her dad’s loss with the rest of the world, and he said that it’s been a “really heartfelt week.”

“It’s one of the most special weeks for me in my Dancing with the Stars career and I’m just honored to be able to be there for her and walk her through this journey and go there with her.”

According to Derek Hough, so many tears have been shed during this week’s DWTS rehearsals that he and Bindi Irwin had to come up with a “safe word” that they could use whenever they were starting to feel too emotional. They decided to use “Peaches,” the title of a naughty tune by alt rock band The Presidents of the United States of America.

The Australia Zoo, which was founded by Steve Irwin and his wife, Terri, also found a way to lighten the mood during this very emotional week for Bindi and Derek. According to E! News, the zoo decided to name an adorable baby koala bear after Bindi’s Dancing with the Stars partner.

We’ve named one of our koala joeys after @derekhough who has been an amazing mentor to @BindiIrwin on @DancingABC! ? pic.twitter.com/GZz56NHmTd

— Australia Zoo (@AustraliaZoo) October 4, 2015

It’s a shame that the little guy is back in Australia — Bindi and Derek could have cheered themselves up by giving him a little cuddle during rehearsals whenever they started feeling too down to dance.

Bindi and Derek aren’t the only Dancing with the Stars partners who chose a memorable moment that will likely inspire an amazing dance tonight. Backstreet Boys fans will finally get to see Nick Carter moving and grooving to a BSB tune, and he and pro partner Sharna Burgess chose one of the most memorable BSB songs for tonight’s dance: “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”

Many DWTS fans were likely hoping that the couple would dance to the song during Dancing with the Stars’ Halloween theme night, but it looks like the pair just couldn’t wait to rock their bodies right. According to his Instagram page, Nick Carter chose 1996 as his most memorable year. This is most likely because it was the year the Backstreet Boys released their self-titled debut album. Watching Nick dance to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” will likely take a lot of viewers back to their fangirl days, including Dancing with the Stars pro Sharna Burgess. During an interview with Us Weekly, Sharna revealed that she used to have a schoolgirl crush on her celebrity partner.

“I’ve never fangirled about anybody,” Sharna said. “I just didn’t expect Nick Carter to be standing in front of me. And I, all of a sudden, regressed to my 13-year-old self and started to giggle. I thought, ‘No, surely he was there for something else, and my partner was going to come around the corner at some point.’ ”

Even though Sharna and Nick are dancing to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” a few weeks before Halloween, Sharna told Us Weekly that they might continue with the throwback theme by paying homage to the song’s spooky music video during the Dancing with the Stars Halloween episode. This means there’s still a chance that Backstreet Boys fans will get to see Nick dressed like a mummy again.

The third Dancing with the Stars performance that will likely make a lot of headlines tonight is the one that will be performed by Paris train hero Alek Skaralatos. He and pro partner Lindsay Arnold will be dancing to Avicii’s “Wake Me Up,” and it’s highly likely that Alek will choose this year as his most memorable one — it is the year he became a hero, after all.

Alek Skarlatos’ life has drastically changed since August, which is when he and his friends took down a potential terrorist during a train ride to Paris. However, tonight, everyone will be talking about the Army National Guard Specialist, because he was a student at Umpqua Community College, the Roseburg, Oregon, school where a gunman recently killed nine students and injured nine others before taking his own life. In a statement to People, Alek said that he wished he’d been there when the shooting took place. Deadline reports that Alek returned to Oregon shortly after hearing the news about the shooting, but he returned to Hollywood so that he can dance during tonight’s episode of Dancing with the Stars.

Roseburg is amazing and the people are fantastic. Remember those we lost on Thursday #RoseburgStrong — alek skarlatos (@alekskarlatos) October 4, 2015

Dancing with the Stars airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Which Most Memorable Year dance do you think will be the most memorable?

[Featured Image credit: Tibrina Hobson / Getty Images]