Dancing with the Stars opens Season 35 with first exit and six-year ratings high
Dancing with the Stars cut its first couple of Season 35 on Tuesday night, with Conner Leavitt leaving the ballroom on an opening night that drew the show's biggest premiere audience in six years.
Leavitt, partnered with Adele Zaikman, was eliminated at the end of the first of two premiere episodes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Zaikman is the first-ever winner of Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, the show's search for a new professional dancer.
Season 35 opened with a special two-night premiere split by gender. Eight male celebrities performed on Tuesday night, with the eight female celebrities to follow on Wednesday night. One celebrity was scheduled to go home on each night.
The theme for both nights was a No. 1 song from the year each star was born. On Tuesday, Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson sat top of the leaderboard with 21 out of 30.
The night did not run smoothly off the floor. Online voting through ABC's website crashed during the live broadcast, and co-host Alfonso Ribeiro told viewers the show was only accepting votes by text that night. Ribeiro hosts alongside Julianne Hough, with Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli listed as judges by ABC.
Eliminations are decided by the lowest combined total of judges' scores and viewer votes. That system put Leavitt at the bottom after the first night of voting.
Among the other Tuesday routines, Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess danced a Tango for 17, while Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold scored 16 for a Cha Cha and Taylor Hanson and Britt Stewart also scored 16 for a Quickstep, according to voting and scores reported via the Tallahassee Democrat. ABC also lists Ezra Frech, Guillermo Rodriguez and Jackson Olson among the Season 35 cast, which it describes as 16 new celebrities.
Wednesday night belongs to the women. The line-up is Tatyana Ali with Jan Ravnik, Giada De Laurentiis with Alan Bersten, Jenna Dewan with Val Chmerkovskiy, Amber Glenn with Pasha Pashkov, Maura Higgins with Mark Ballas, Ciara Miller with Brandon Armstrong, Sarah Jane Nader with Hailey Bills and Julia Stiles with Ezra Sosa.
For viewers, this means a fast start. Two dances, two votes and two exits in two days, before the surviving couples move into the regular season together.
The early ratings point to strong interest. Preliminary Nielsen ratings reported by The Hollywood Reporter put the first episode at 6.67 million viewers, up 24 percent on last year's debut of 5.38 million. That makes it the most-watched DWTS premiere since Season 29 in September 2020.
ABC lists the opener as "Premiere: Night One" and promoted the second night as continuing live at 8/7c, with voting for favourite couples opening at 8/7c. Episodes are also available to stream on Disney+.
