Tony Dovolani: 'I Would Love to Be a Judge' on 'Dancing with the Stars'

Having danced on the show for 19 seasons, the All-Stars champ is DWTS's most seasoned pro

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Photo: Andrew Toth/Getty

Tony Dovolani is used to racking up perfect 10s on Dancing with the Stars – but he hopes to be the one handing out scores sooner rather than later.

“I would love to judge, and I think I would be a great judge,” Dovolani told PEOPLE at the 10th anniversary party for Dance With Me, a chain of dance studios co-founded by Dovolani’s fellow DWTS pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

“Considering I’ve had so many different partners, I know the road that every single one of those partners has taken. It’s not like I’ve always had the ringers,” Dovolani said, making a convincing argument for why he could follow in the footsteps of Julianne Hough, who moved from the ballroom floor to the judges’ table in 2014.

“I’ve had the challenges. I’ve had the ringers. I’ve had the ones that needed to be worked on. [I’ve had] the ones that were going through tough times in their lives. So I feel like I would be a great judge,” continued Dovolani – who has previously partnered with NeNe Leakes and Leah Remini, and who took home the All-Stars season’s Mirrorball Trophy with Melissa Rycroft.

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Even if he doesn’t become a judge in the immediate future, Dovolani still plans to remain part of the ballroom competition: “I think my dancing shoes are still not done,” he said. “I can do whatever they want me to do because I love the show. I love what it represents. I love what it does for people. So in any capacity that I’m involved with Dancing with the Stars, I’m very happy to do it.”

Dovolani’s passion for movement appears to be genetic. He said that his daughters Luana and Ariana – two of the three children he’s raising with wife Lina – have been bitten by the dancing bug, too.

“Both my girls love to dance,” Dovolani said proudly. “I’m hoping that they do pick it up. I’m not forcing them to on purpose because I think dance has to do with love.”

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