An Out Contestant on Dancing with the Stars?

As we head into the season finals of the ABC juggernaut Dancing with the Stars, speculation is already under way regarding which celebrities will take the Paso Doble plunge next season. Out judge and choreographer Bruno Tonioli (left) thinks it's time for an openly gay personality to hit the dance floor. "It would be great, it would be welcomed," he tells AfterElton.com, while stopping short of giving up his wish list of would-be contenders. When the name of a certain stage veteran who stars on TV's Torchwood is tossed out as a possibility, Bruno gets excited, "John Barrowman is too good! He’ll win. John Barrowman is a good friend. He’s amazing, but he’s too good because he’s done 27,000 musicals."

The judge also welcomes the idea of same-sex couples on DWTS, but believes that at this point, such a coupling would overshadow the competition. "That would be fantastic, but I think that they should do – they should do a special. It would be great to do a special, because it would probably be unfair with the others. They’d probably be fantastic. They’d probably get so much attention, but it would be great to do like a special, boy/boy and girl/girl. Can you imagine?"

From a small provincial town in Italy where he was teased for being too "pretty" to an in-demand dancer and choreographer in the UK, Australia and South Africa, Bruno really opens up in what has to be one of his most revealing and personal interviews he's done stateside, where he is the only out judge on a network competition show.

To read Michael Jensen's interview with Bruno, check out AfterElton.com. The story about how he ended up in that little sling of a bathing suit for the Elton John video I'm Still Standing (below) is priceless.