Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars kicked off a special two-night premiere on September 15, 2026, dividing the 16-couple celebrity cast by gender at CBS Television City. Male contestants performed first to birth-year No. 1 hits, while website voting failures forced a shift to text-only ballots and Conner Leavitt became the first elimination.
Split Premiere Format and Birth-Year Musical Themes
The 16 competing couples were divided so that the eight male celebrities took the floor on Tuesday night, while the eight female celebrities were scheduled to follow on Wednesday evening. Coming off an Emmy-nominated 34th season, the cast featured reality television stars, Olympians, and actors. For their debut routines, every pair was assigned a No. 1 song from the year the celebrity was born. Dancing with the Stars
season 35 premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 15 and Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming on Disney+. Each couple will compete in only one of the premiere’s two episodes – either Tuesday or Wednesday.
The ballroom at CBS Television City played host to the opening night performances. As co-host Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro guided the live broadcast alongside judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough, the evening progressed through a variety of dance styles including cha cha, tango, salsa, and quickstep. The event will culminate Wednesday night with the female contestants.
Technical Glitches Force Text-Only Voting
Technical difficulties impacted the premiere broadcast shortly after the competition began. Following the second routine of the night, performed by Tyler Cameron and partner Sharna Burgess, host Julianne Hough informed viewers that voting on the ABC website was down, directing the audience to submit their votes via text instead. Later in the evening, co-host Alfonso Ribeiro confirmed that website voting remained offline, making text messaging the exclusive method for viewers watching the Tuesday night premiere live on ABC and Disney+ to save their favorite couples. They threw out the ABC.com votes mid-premiere and relied solely on text votes, which have their own wrinkle this year since there’s two contestants who share the same name. Voters will need to specify Conner L. or Connor W. in their text votes.
Leaderboard Standings and Opening Night Scores
Judges instituted tighter scoring at the start of the season, handing out early marks in the lower ranges before higher tallies emerged. Actor Harry Shum Jr. and partner Jenna Johnson finished at the top of the leaderboard with a score of 21 out of 30 for a cha cha set to Earth, Wind & Fire’s Let’s Groove. Paralympic gold medalist Ezra Frech and partner Daniella Karagach secured the second-highest score of the night with a 20 out of 30 for a tango performed to Kelly Clarkson’s Since U Been Gone. Frech was born without most of his left leg and the fingers on his left hand. He competed with a prosthetic leg, and his vignette before his dance showed that his leg came loose from his body during practice, causing him to reattach it.
| Couple | Dance Style | Song | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson | Cha Cha | “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire | 21/30 |
| Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach | Tango | “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson | 20/30 |
| Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess | Tango | “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz | 17/30 |
| Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold | Cha Cha | “I Like It, I Love It” by Tim McGraw | 16/30 |
| Taylor Hanson and Britt Stewart | Quickstep | “Tell Her About It” by Billy Joel | 16/30 |
| Jackson Olson and Emma Slater | Cha Cha | “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls | 15/30 |
| Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman | Salsa | “Whoomp! There It Is” by Tag Team | 12/30 (Eliminated) |
| Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson | Cha Cha | “Mr. Big Stuff” by Jean Knight | 10/30 |
Conner Leavitt Eliminated in the Season Opener
Combined totals from judges’ scores and viewer votes determined who faced elimination at the end of the broadcast. Conner Leavitt, known from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, was partnered with Adele Zaikman—the winner of the inaugural season of Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro. The pair performed a salsa to Tag Team’s Whoomp! There It Is that judge Carrie Ann Inaba described as a little chaotic, ultimately resulting in a score of 12 out of 30 and leaving Leavitt with the lowest combined total to become the first contestant eliminated from the competition.
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