Season 34 of “Dancing with the Stars” is here. The new season premiered on Sept. 16 and broke records as the series’ biggest premiere since Season 29 in 2020.
This season’s stars come from all over, featuring stars from TikTok, athletes, actors and more. The show begins with 15 celebrities and culminates in one taking home the Mirrorball Trophy. This season’s stars include Alix Earle, Robert Irwin, Jordan Chiles and Andy Richter.
Hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough make their return to the show, along with judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
Although hours before the premiere, Inaba posted on social media that she was under the weather and would not be attending the season premiere. Inaba assured fans she will be back for the second show.
Most of this season’s stars, like many before them, have no dance background. However, viewers quickly recognized the absence of stage fright in the new dancers. While mistakes were made, the stars did not let it bring their spirits down.
Unlike subsequent episodes, the premiere does not have an elimination round. The leaderboard has two factors. Firstly, the scores of the three judges are combined to form a total score of 30. Secondly, the viewers vote for their favorite stars. After the premiere, star Robert Irwin and his professional dance partner Witney Carson were tied at the top of the leaderboard with star Whitney Leavitt and professional Mark Ballas.
For the second episode, the show was themed “One-Hit Wonders Night,” where each star danced to a one-hit wonder song.
Star Jen Affleck and her professional partner Jan Ravnik received their first eight from a judge. This allowed for a quick jump on the leaderboard with a judge’s score of 22 out of 30 for Affleck and Ravnik.
The leaderboard was tightened up following Tuesday night’s show. There was a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard.
The second show had the season’s first double elimination round to close out the episode. Last year’s pro dance Mirrorball winner, Jenna Johnson, was eliminated with her star dance partner, Corey Feldman.
Star Baron Davis and pro Britt Stewart followed Feldman and Johnson as the second and final elimination of the night, sending these stars and pros home.
Dancing with the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
