Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Cast: All 16 Couples and Who’s Out
Sixteen celebrities, their pro partners, the premiere scores and the two couples already sent home — updated after every episode.
- Sixteen celebrities are competing on Dancing With the Stars season 35, tied for the largest cast the show has had.
- Two couples are already out: Conner Leavitt on night 1 and Sarah Jane Nader on night 2 of the premiere.
- Harry Shum Jr. and Maura Higgins share the top premiere score, 21 out of 30.
Dancing With the Stars season 35 opened with a two-night premiere on ABC and Disney+ on Sept. 15 and 16, 2026: the eight men danced on Tuesday, the eight women on Wednesday, and one couple went home each night.
Every celebrity danced to a No. 1 song from the year they were born. Below is the full cast, who each star is paired with, and where every couple stands after week 1.
Who is in the Dancing With the Stars season 35 cast?
| Celebrity | Known for | Pro partner | Premiere score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Shum Jr. | Actor, Grey’s Anatomy | Jenna Johnson | 21 |
| Maura Higgins | TV personality, Love Island, The Traitors | Mark Ballas | 21 |
| Ezra Frech | Paralympic gold medalist | Daniella Karagach | 20 |
| Jenna Dewan | Actress and dancer, The Rookie, Step Up | Val Chmerkovskiy | 19 |
| Amber Glenn | Olympic gold medalist, figure skating | Pasha Pashkov | 18 |
| Julia Stiles | Actress, 10 Things I Hate About You | Ezra Sosa | 18 |
| Tyler Cameron | The Bachelorette alum | Sharna Burgess | 17 |
| Giada De Laurentiis | Chef and Food Network host | Alan Bersten | 16 |
| Taylor Hanson | Singer, Hanson | Britt Stewart | 16 |
| Connor Wood | Comedian and influencer | Rylee Arnold | 16 |
| Ciara Miller | Summer House star | Brandon Armstrong | 15 |
| Jackson Olson | Savannah Bananas baseball player | Emma Slater | 15 |
| Tatyana Ali | Actress, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Jan Ravnik | 12 |
| Guillermo Rodriguez | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Witney Carson | 10 |
| Sarah Jane Nader | Love Thy Nader star | Hailey Bills | 14 — eliminated |
| Conner Leavitt | The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives | Adele Zaikman | 12 — eliminated |
Who has been eliminated from DWTS season 35?
Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman were the first couple out, at the end of the Sept. 15 episode, after a salsa to “Whoomp! (There It Is)” that scored 12. Leavitt is the husband of Whitney Leavitt, who competed on season 34.
Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills followed on Sept. 16, after a jive to Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” scored 14. The full breakdown of both nights is in our DWTS elimination tracker, updated after every episode.
Who topped the premiere leaderboard?
Harry Shum Jr. closed night 1 with the first straight sevens of the season, a 21 for his cha-cha with Jenna Johnson. On night 2, Maura Higgins matched him with a foxtrot alongside Mark Ballas — the first woman of the season to get a seven from all three judges.
Paralympian Ezra Frech was right behind with 20 for a tango with Daniella Karagach. Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy scored 19 for their tango, and Julia Stiles earned 18 with a quickstep to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” the singer’s 1981 No. 1, weeks after Parton’s death at 80.
How are couples eliminated on Dancing With the Stars?
Each of the three judges scores a dance from 1 to 10, so the maximum is 30. That score is combined with the viewer vote, and the couple with the lowest combined total goes home at the end of the episode.
The vote can outweigh the judges. On night 1, Guillermo Rodriguez had the lowest score, 10, and stayed; Leavitt, with 12, went home. On night 2, Tatyana Ali’s 12 was the lowest of the women, and Nader, with 14, was eliminated.
Voting happens only live, during the East Coast broadcast, online through ABC’s voting site or by text to 21523, and closes shortly after the last dance. On the West Coast, that means voting between 5 p.m. and roughly 6:45 p.m. PT.
On premiere night the voting website went down, and hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro told viewers only text votes were being accepted.
Who hosts and judges season 35?
Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough host. The judges’ table is unchanged: Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.
When and where to watch Dancing With the Stars season 35
After the premiere week, the show airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+ at the same time, and episodes stream the next day on Hulu.
The first premiere night drew 6.67 million viewers in preliminary Nielsen numbers, 24% more than last season’s debut (5.38 million) and the most for a premiere since season 29 in 2020.
More reality TV news is in our TV & Reality section.
The take
The two lowest judges’ scores survived both premiere nights, while couples two points higher went home. The leaderboard shows who danced best in week 1; so far, the vote has decided who stays.
— Bruno Monteiro
Sources: ABC’s live broadcasts of the season 35 premiere (Sept. 15–16, 2026); Dancing With the Stars (@dancingwiththestars) on Instagram; preliminary Nielsen ratings. Scores and results as reported by The Hollywood Reporter; E! News (Lindsay Weinberg, Olivia Evans, Hayley Santaflorentina); Good Morning America (Shafiq Najib).
Reported from @dancingwiththestars on Instagram.
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