Dancing With The Stars veteran Mark Ballas has been asked to write a guest blog about the hit reality TV show on HollywoodLife.com. In his first post, he gave readers his take on the premiere episode of the new season of the show, touching on his partner Sadie Robertson’s performance as well as Julianne Hough’s first stint as a judge.

Ballas and partner Sadie Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame wowed the judges with their cha cha and garnered a high score of 34 out of 40. The 17-year-old partner of Ballas has had no formal dance training whatsoever, but Ballas felt she lit up the room with her performance. “I was very impressed with Sadie who just pulled it out of the bag. She hit this ‘on’ switch that I hadn’t seen in rehearsals yet. It blew me away!” he wrote. “She’s naturally gifted—she’s got it!” Robertson was the one who coined the duo’s nickname of Team Quack Attack on Instagram. In a rehearsal video released before their performance, she claimed that she was “more excited than nervous.”

The 15-season veteran professional dancer approved of former pro dancer Julianne Hough’s new role on Dancing With The Stars as a member of the judging panel. He wrote, “It’s nice to have someone judging who has been in my position before, and knows what they’re talking about because they’ve experienced it, they’ve lived it, they’ve done it! She also knows what it takes to win.”

Ballas also took note of the competition’s strong performances, citing those of Bethany Mota, Alfonso Ribeiro, Randy Couture and Tommy Chong. Meanwhile, Olympian Lolo Jones and her dance partner Keo Motsepe were eliminated from the competition, but Ballas still had a glowing review for the night.

“We had a great opening show, and I’m really excited to continue and drive all the way to the finals with Sadie!” he wrote.