Dancing with the Stars (American TV series)

Dancing with the Stars is an American dance competition television series that premiered on ABC on June 1, 2005. It is the American version of the British reality TV competition Strictly Come Dancing, and is part of the Dancing with the Stars franchise. The show pairs celebrities with professional dancers. Each couple competes against the others for judges' points and audience votes. The couple receiving the lowest combined total of judges' points and audience votes is usually eliminated each week until only the champion dance pair remains. The series is hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, with Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli serving as judges.
In April 2022, it was announced that, beginning with the thirty-first season, Dancing with the Stars would move from ABC to Disney+. In May 2023, it was announced that the series would stream live on both ABC and Disney+ simultaneously for the thirty-second season, which aired September–December 2023. On February 10, 2024, ABC renewed the series for a thirty-third season, which premiered on September 17, 2024.
Tom Bergeron (who was also hosting America's Funniest Home Videos, also on ABC, at the time of the show's debut) was the host for the show's first 28 seasons, beginning with its premiere in 2005. In season 1, his co-host was Lisa Canning. She was subsequently replaced by Samantha Harris for seasons 2 through 9 (2006–2009), who was then replaced by Brooke Burke-Charvet from seasons 10 through 17 (2010–2013). Erin Andrews took over as co-host starting in season 18 (2014).
On July 13, 2020, Bergeron announced in a tweet that he had been let go from the series. ABC and BBC Studios made an official announcement shortly afterward saying Andrews would also be exiting the program. The following day, model and host Tyra Banks was announced to be joining the show as host in addition to serving as an executive producer for the twenty-ninth season. On July 14, 2022, it was announced that Alfonso Ribeiro would join Banks as co-host for the thirty-first season. On March 17, 2023, it was revealed that Banks would be leaving the show prior to the thirty-second season. Three days later, it was announced that Julianne Hough would be joining as co-host for season 32, while Ribeiro was elevated to main host.
The regular judges included Len Goodman, who served as head judge, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli. Goodman was absent for much of season 19, the entire season 21, much of season 23, and the entire season 29. Julianne Hough, who had been a professional dancing partner for seasons 4 through 8, was added as a full-time judge for seasons 19 through 21, after having been a guest judge in the previous two seasons. She did not return for season 22, but she did return as a full-time judge for seasons 23 and 24, but did not return subsequently. Julianne's brother, Derek Hough, replaced Len Goodman for season 29, as Goodman was unable to travel from London to Los Angeles due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, though he was able to "share his ballroom expertise" during the season via pre-taped clips. Goodman announced during the season 31 semifinals that he would be retiring from the show at the end of the season.
Following Goodman's death, the Mirrorball Trophy was renamed the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy beginning in season 32.
For 17 seasons, the Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers provided the live music for the show. On February 7, 2014, it was announced that Ray Chew would be brought on as the new band leader, bringing with him a new group of instrumentalists and singers.
Each season, celebrities are paired with professional dance partners who instruct them in the various dance styles, design their choreography, and perform with them each week in the competition.
In season 12, the show introduced the dance troupe, which consisted of professional dancers who performed on the show but were not paired with celebrity partners. The first troupe in season 12 included Oksana Dmytrenko, Tristan MacManus, Peta Murgatroyd, Kiki Nyemchek, Nicole Volynets, and Ted Volynets.
After being eliminated in season 32, the troupe was brought back for season 33. Marcquet Hill, Roman Nevinchanyi, Kailyn Rogers, and Stephani Sosa joined the show as first time troupe members. Sosa is the sister of professional dancer Ezra Sosa.
Other past troupe members include Brandon Armstrong, Lindsay Arnold, Alan Bersten, Sharna Burgess, Henry Byalikov, Witney Carson, Brittany Cherry, Daria Chesnokova, Artem Chigvintsev, Sasha Farber, Shannon Holtzapffel, Dennis Jauch, Jenna Johnson, Kiril Kulish, Tristan MacManus, Keo Motsepe, Sonny Fredie-Pedersen, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, Julz Tocker, Artur Adamski, Hayley Erbert, Britt Stewart, Morgan Larson, Vladislav Kvartin, D'Angelo Castro, Kateryna Klishyna, Ezra Sosa, and Alexis Warr.
In the first two seasons, only the overall ranking between competitors by the judges and the public was relevant. In the third and subsequent seasons, the scoring system has also made the exact scores relevant.
The scoring begins with the judges' marks. Each judge gives a numeric score from 1 to 10, for a total score of 3 to 30 or 40. The scoring was altered for the "all-star" season 15, during which judges could give scores at 1/2-point intervals from 0.5 to 10, for a total score of 1.5 to 30. When multiple performances are scored, only the cumulative total counts. The contestants' judges' shares are calculated as the percentage of the total number of points awarded to all contestants that evening. (For example, if a team earned 20 pts on a night when the judges awarded 200 pts, their judges' share would be 20/200 = 10%.) This percentage is then added to the percentage of North American votes received by each contestant. The two couples with the lowest scores are identified at the end of the show, and the couple with the lowest combined total gets eliminated. Season 8 added an occasional 'dance-off', in which contestants could re-perform one of their dances, to improve their judges' score. This was later discontinued.
Public voting is conducted via a toll-free number, the ABC website, and, most recently, text messages and Facebook; contestants can vote during and immediately after each performance show. The maximum number of votes per voter per medium is equal to the number of couples performing that night, or five votes, whichever is larger. In April 2010, it was revealed that former contestant Kate Gosselin had e-mailed friends and family asking them to vote as many as 10 times each. In November 2010, The Washington Post reported that online voting appeared not to require a valid email address, and accordingly that numerous votes apparently could be cast by one person.
In several cases where ESPN coverage of Monday Night Football airs instead on an ABC affiliate in an NFL team's home market, the program is delayed to air immediately after that station's local news, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Nightline, and a voting window confined only to the area codes of the pre-empted market is opened up to allow affected viewers to still put their votes in for the competition, though this is on a market-by-market basis (in some markets, an alternate sister station or digital subchannel carries the program live as scheduled).
Seasons 1 and 3 featured only two couples in the final week instead of three. Starting with season 16, four couples made it into the final week, although the top three finalists proceeded to dance one more time for the judges the next night after the fourth-place couple was announced. In seasons 20, 22, 24, and 26 there were three couples in the final week, but in seasons 21, 23, 25, 27–31 there were four, however in season 32, there was a change and five couples made it to the final.
Starting in season 28, the two couples with the lowest combined total of judges' scores and viewer voting percentages are in the bottom two and in jeopardy of being eliminated. The judges can save one of the bottom two couples from elimination in these seasons so that more talented competitors are kept. In situations of a double elimination in which three teams are in danger of elimination, the couple with the lowest combined total of judges' scores and viewer votes is eliminated, and the other two couples will face the judges' decision, who have to vote to save one couple from elimination. However, for season 32, this was removed and reverted to the original rules used in the first 27 seasons.
On the April 18, 2006, episode of the Howard Stern Radio Show, Stern's wife Beth said that she was guaranteed to earn $125,000 for just appearing on DWTS (in season 3) and could earn up to more than double the original sum, depending on how long she lasted on the program.
In season 21, Bindi Irwin had her payments withheld by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge because she was a minor, which therefore required her parents to sign-off on the contract. But although her mother signed, the contract lacked her father's signature, so the judge refused to validate the contract, despite Irwin's father being the world-famous naturalist Steve Irwin, whose death in 2006 had been widely covered in the news/media. The judge later validated the contract once Steve Irwin's death certificate was presented to the court, resulting in Bindi receiving a $350,000 paycheck from the show.
The first person to withdraw from competition was Romeo in season 2. His father, Master P, took his place in the competition before the beginning of broadcasts, being partnered with Ashly DelGrosso. However, Romeo later competed in season 12 and finished in 5th place. He was partnered with Chelsie Hightower.
On week six in season three, Sara Evans cited her divorce as the reason for leaving the competition. No one was eliminated that week. Another withdrawal occurred during the run-up to season four on February 28, when Vincent Pastore withdrew from the competition after only one week of training. Pastore said he did not realize how much work was needed during a ten-week period, and that he was not up to the physical demands of the show. He was replaced on March 2 by Pixar voice actor John Ratzenberger who was partnered with Edyta Sliwinska.
In season seven, Misty May-Treanor withdrew from the competition in week three, after rupturing her Achilles tendon when rehearsing her jive with her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. She did not perform the routine at all nor was she scored for it; no one else was eliminated that week.
In season eight, Jewel and Nancy O'Dell were injured before the season even began and could not compete. Jewel was diagnosed with fractured tibias in both legs; she came back later in the season to perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on a results show. O'Dell suffered from a torn knee cartilage. They were replaced by Holly Madison and Melissa Rycroft who would be dancing with their partners for the rest of the season (Dmitry Chaplin and Tony Dovolani).
Tom DeLay, in season nine, withdrew in week three of competition due to a full stress fracture that had developed in both feet from an earlier pre-stress fracture in one foot. DeLay was declared safe before he announced his withdrawal during the October 6, 2009, results show. Debi Mazar was still eliminated that night despite DeLay's departure.
In season sixteen, Olympic figure skating champion Dorothy Hamill had to withdraw from the competition due to doctor's orders for a spinal injury. A cyst had developed near her lower spine, and was pinching off the nerve in that area. Either boxing champion Victor Ortiz or reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump would have been eliminated, but Hamill withdrew before the results could be announced, meaning that no one was eliminated that week.
In season eighteen, week three, actor Billy Dee Williams withdrew, by advice from a doctor, due to a chronic back problem, which resulted in no elimination that week.
In season twenty-one, week three, reality TV star Kim Zolciak-Biermann was forced to withdraw from the competition after suffering a blood clot which resulted in a mini stroke, which resulted in no elimination that week. Tamar Braxton also withdrew from the season due to blood clots in her lungs making it the first season to have two withdrawals in it.
In season twenty eight, Christie Brinkley withdrew from the competition a week before the season premiere, due to injuring her arm during rehearsal and needing sudden surgery. She was replaced by her daughter, Sailor with only a few days to practice prior to the season premiere. Later that season, Ray Lewis withdrew from the competition in the third week due to a toe injury he sustained during rehearsal that needed surgery. This was the second season to have two withdrawals.
In Season 29 during the 8th week, television host Jeannie Mai withdrew from the show after being hospitalized for epiglottitis. As a result, the double elimination that was supposed to happen did not take place. Only one couple, Chrishell Stause and Gleb Savchenko, were eliminated that night.
In Season 31 during the 5th week, movie star Selma Blair withdrew from the show to prevent her health from further deteriorating due to her multiple sclerosis. This marks the first time where a celebrity got the first perfect score of the season and withdrew on the same episode. As a result, there were no elimination that first night of the 5th week.
Following controversy over Kelly Monaco surging from behind to win the first mirror ball trophy over the consistently strong John O'Hurley, ABC arranged for a "Dance Off" episode for a rematch. Both contestants were reunited with their professional dance partners, Alec Mazo (Monaco) and Charlotte Jorgensen (O'Hurley). Judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli awarded O'Hurley & Jorgensen 77 points and Monaco & Mazo 74—but for this specific competition only the audience vote counted. As announced by Tom Bergeron the following Thursday, the audience vote gave the rematch victory to O'Hurley with a slim 1% edge.
Many considered this rematch a mistake and Kelly Monaco retains her title as the winner of Season 1. A rematch episode was never staged again.
The show celebrated its 100th episode on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, during week 8 of season 6. More than 30 former cast members and pros returned, with interviews with Stacy Keibler, Lisa Rinna, Jerry Springer, Vivica A. Fox, Joey Fatone, Kenny Mayne, Sabrina Bryan, and former winners Kelly Monaco, Drew Lachey, and Apolo Anton Ohno. Other appearances, besides the season 6 cast, included Paula Abdul (in a video introduction), Jane Seymour, Ian Ziering, Mark Cuban, Wayne Newton, Leeza Gibbons, Harry Hamlin, Shandi Finnessey, and Hélio Castroneves. New routines were performed by Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough, Mel B and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and by Mario Lopez with the cast of A Chorus Line, in which he was starring on Broadway. The musical guest was country group Rascal Flatts.
The judges also presented a countdown of their choices for the top 10 perfect-scoring dances of the first five seasons. Their choices were:
In season 11, viewers were allowed two votes per day on the DWTS website to vote for their favorite out of 30 given choices. On October 25, 2010, a countdown of the Top 10 voted-for dances on the show was reported to celebrate the following week when the 200th show would be.
On the actual 200th show, several dances were performed again on the show and six of the past fan favorites came back to judge; Helio Castroneves, Emmitt Smith, Drew Lachey, Kelly Osbourne, Gilles Marini, Mel B, and more. The couples re-created their most memorable routines on the 200th episode; Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Ohno served as team captains for the team dances. Yamaguchi's team consisted of Rick & Cheryl, Kyle & Lacey and Bristol & Mark, while Brandy & Maksim, Jennifer & Derek and Kurt & Anna were on Ohno's team. On the results show of November 2, some awards were given out to past celebrity contestants and professionals.
The 300th episode took place on the week 9 results show of season 16. Twenty-two professional dancers who had appeared on the show, both past and present, performed an opening number choreographed by Jason Gilkinson. Past pros who performed were Chelsie Hightower, Dmitry Chaplin, Louis Van Amstel, and Anna Trebunskaya. Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough danced their "Argentine tango" as the week's encore. However, the top 10 dances were not revealed, nor were the achievements.
The 400th episode was the season premiere of the twenty-fourth season. Tom Bergeron did mention the milestone, although no special dances took place.
On April 28, 2015, during season 20, a special pre-recorded episode aired as a 10th anniversary special with many former stars and professional dancers returning to the ballroom. Many past stars performed and reflected on their time on the show. Patti LaBelle, Amber Riley, and Lil' Kim performed LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade". The show closed with the largest number of people dancing in the show's history as stars, pros, hosts, and judges were all out on the dance floor.
Brandon Armstrong, Cheryl Burke, Kym Herjavec, and Derek Hough hosted the Dancing with the Stars: The Pros' Most Memorable Dances where they showed the 20 most memorable dances in the history of the show's thirty seasons. It premiered on Disney+ on September 8, 2022.
The show celebrated its 500th episode on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, during week 7 of season 33. in the first round, each couple reinterpreted a memorable dance from a previous season. The second round was the Instant Dance Challenge, in which they had approximately five minutes to choreograph and learn a new dance before performing it live. Although the assigned dance styles and songs were not known beforehand by the couples, they were told that it would be one of four dance styles they had performed earlier in the season.
The opening number was choreographed by Pasha Pashkov and Daniella Karagach to "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, the same song that opened the first season of Dancing with the Stars. It featured special appearances from Derek Hough, Julianne Hough, and Sharna Burgess.
More than 20 former pros and cast members returned, with appearances by Allison Holker, Mark Ballas, Lindsay Arnold, Anna Trebunskaya, Elena Grinenko, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Peta Murgatroyd, Artem Chigvintsev, Kristi Yamaguchi, Cody Linley, Melissa Rycroft, Amy Purdy, Ginger Zee, Terra Jolé, Lindsey Stirling, Adam Rippon, Kate Flannery, AJ McLean, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Brian Austin Green, Amanda Kloots, and Alyson Hannigan.
A DVD titled Dancing with the Stars: Cardio Dance was released on April 3, 2007, featuring Kym Johnson, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Ashly DelGrosso. The program contains cardiovascular workouts adapted from cha-cha, Paso doble, samba, and jive dance routines.
A second DVD Dancing with the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance was released on September 13, 2008, featuring Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Cheryl Burke. The program contains cardiovascular workouts adapted from cha-cha, Merengue, samba and mambo dance routines.
A companion book written by Guy Phillips was released in the early fall of 2007. Titled Dancing with the Stars: Jive, Samba and Tango Your Way into the Best Shape of Your Life, the book includes fitness routines modeled by Alec Mazo and Edyta Sliwinska, as well as original costume designs, lists of performed songs during a dance, and a complete list of song-and-dance routine performed since the first season of the show.
The first Dancing spin-off, Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, premiered on January 7, 2008, on ABC. The show's format was similar to the BBC Television series, DanceX. The show was canceled after one season.
A figure skating spin-off similar to ITV's Dancing on Ice called Skating with the Stars aired on ABC on November 22, 2010. The series was canceled after one season.
On May 16, 2017, a Dancing with the Stars: Juniors spin-off was announced. The dance competition spin-off was originally set to premiere in the spring of 2018 on ABC, and the format of the show will feature celebrity children and the children of celebrities paired with professional junior ballroom dancers. In January 2018, ABC stated that Dancing with the Stars: Juniors is still in the works, but didn't develop as quickly they hoped it would. Athletes aired in its place, with Juniors originally slated to air that summer. However, in May 2018, it was announced that the series would begin airing on October 7, 2018, with filming taking place during August 2018. Professional skateboarder Sky Brown, junior pro JT Church and pro mentor Alan Bersten were announced as the winners on December 9, 2018. The show, however, was cancelled after one season.
In 2016, ABC, together with BBC Worldwide, commissioned a companion mobile game. The match-3 game, published by Donut Publishing and developed by Exient Entertainment, uses a mix of hand animation and motion-captured data for the dances in the game. The game uses pro dancers from Strictly Come Dancing and features nine dances: Quickstep, Jive, Tango, Salsa, Charleston, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, and Paso Doble.
An unofficial live tour show called Dancing Pros: Live! toured with several Dancing pros since 2010. A Dancing with the Stars: Live! official tour was announced on November 3, 2014, for the 2014–2015 season starting on December 27, 2014, in Niagara Falls, New York, and ending February 15, 2015, hitting 33 cities. A second tour, "Dancing with the Stars Live! : Dance All Night" was announced. A third tour, Dancing with the Stars: Live! – We Came to Dance, was announced on October 3, 2016, for 43 cities from December 16, 2016, to February 14, 2017. A fourth tour, Dancing with the Stars: Light Up the Night, was announced in October 2017 and began on December 30, 2017, in Charlotte, North Carolina, performing 71 shows and ending in Los Angeles. A fifth tour, Dancing with the Stars: A Night to Remember, was announced on October 1, 2018. The tour began on December 15, 2018, in Columbia, South Carolina, and ended on March 9, 2019, in Thousand Oaks, California. The 2020 tour, Dancing with the Stars Live! – 2020 Tour, began on January 9, 2020, in Richmond, Virginia and was originally supposed to run until April 7, 2020. However, beginning with the show scheduled for March 13, 2020, in Rockford, Illinois, the remaining tour dates were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before eventually being cancelled altogether. The 2022 tour, Dancing with the Stars Live! – 2022 Tour, began on January 7, 2022, in Richmond, Virginia, and ended on March 27, 2022, in Modesto, California. The 2023 tour, Dancing with the Stars Live 2023, began on January 6, 2023, in National Harbor, Maryland, and ended on March 12, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2024 tour, Dancing with the Stars Live 2024, started on January 11, 2024, in Richmond, Virginia, and ended on March 26, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. The 2025 tour, Dancing With The Stars: Live! 2025 Tour, will begin on January 7, 2025 in Richmond, Virginia and will end on April 5, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "unlike So You Think You Can Dance, which is generally more of a city show, Dancing with the Stars is most popular in the countryside. It also has a higher share of 'likes' from viewers aged 65 and up than any other show."
The program has also been nominated for various other production-related awards since premiering in 2005, including for hairstyling, makeup, lighting design, and technical direction.