Dancing with the Stars is an American reality dance competition television series that premiered on ABC on June 1, 2005. It is the American version of the British contest program Strictly Come Dancing and is part of its international franchise. The series pairs celebrities with professional dancers to perform primarily ballroom and Latin routines. 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. Since the thirty-second season in 2023, the series has been 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+. However, for season thirty-two, the series returned to ABC while continuing to be streamed simultaneously on Disney+. The thirty-fifth season premiered in September 2026.

Cast Hosts

Tom Bergeron (who was also hosting America's Funniest Home Videos, also on ABC, at the time of the show's premiere) 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 served as co-host from season 18 through 28 (2014–2019).

On July 13, 2020, Bergeron announced in a tweet that he had been dismissed from the series. ABC and BBC Studios made an official announcement shortly afterward saying Andrews would also be leaving 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.

Judges 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 entirety of season 21, much of season 23, and the entirety of 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 in April 2023, the Mirrorball Trophy was renamed the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy beginning in season 32.

Cast timeline Color key

Cast member Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Tom Bergeron ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Tyra Banks ● ● ● Alfonso Ribeiro ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Lisa Canning ● Samantha Harris ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Brooke Burke ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Erin Andrews ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Julianne Hough ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Len Goodman ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Carrie Ann Inaba ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Bruno Tonioli ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Derek Hough ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Gallery

Musicians For 17 seasons, the Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers provided the live music for the show. Starting in season 18, Ray Chew replaced Wheeler as the new band leader, bringing with him a new group of instrumentalists and singers.

Professional dancers

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. Color key

Professional dancer Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Dance troupe 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.

The troupe was eliminated in seasons 28, 29, 30 and 32. For season 33, Marcquet Hill, Roman Nevinchanyi, Kailyn Rogers, and Stephani Sosa joined the show as first time troupe members. For season 34, Hailey Bills, Onye Stevenson, Carter Williams, and Jaxon Willard joined the show as first-time troupe members. For season 35, Kamri Peterson, a former pro on Dancing with the Stars: Juniors, joined the troupe as a first-time member. In addition, Jaxon Willard, Carter Williams, and Onye Stevenson returned as second-year troupe members.

Other former 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.

Series overview

Scoring and voting procedure 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 points on a night when the judges awarded 200 points, 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 at risk 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.

General information

Payment 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 naturalist and television personality Steve Irwin, who died in a stingray incident in 2006. 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.

Withdrawals The first person to withdraw from competition was Romeo in season 2. His father, Master P, replaced him 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.