The ballroom floor has been polished, the costumes have been bedazzled, and the audience is booing at the scores. In other words? “Dancing With the Stars” is back, baby.
ABC’s long-running reality competition returned on Tuesday with the first half of its two-night premiere, in which only the male Season 35 contestants performed for the first time. (The ladies will take their turn in the spotlight on Wednesday at 8/7c.) And though Tuesday’s broadcast was filled with the usual joy and jitters that a “Dancing With the Stars” premiere brings, there was also a slight sense of dread accompanying the proceedings: By the time these two hours were up, one duo would be sent home. Already!
Of course, that sense of dread might just have been radiating from the “Dancing With the Stars” control room after a glitch in the voting system caused all votes submitted on ABC’s website to be scrapped, leaving contestants with only text message-based support. We love live television, folks.
Anyway, who was the unlucky guy who got eliminated first on Tuesday? And which male performers broke out in a big way? Keep scrolling for our full breakdown of the “Dancing” season premiere, then hit the comments with all of your initial reactions!
SAFE: Jackson Olson and pro Emma Slater
DANCE STYLE: Cha-cha (to “Wannabe” by Spice Girls)
It’s pretty impossible to neutrally assess the very first performance of any “Dancing” season; with the nerves and adrenaline at play, it’s always frantic, and Jackson’s was no exception. He had a lot of fun mugging for the camera, and gave us a solid body roll or two, but the actual cha-cha content was a little rushed and stiff. It’s Week 1, though, and Jackson has a solid fanbase from his Savannah Bananas career. I’ve got no doubt he’ll be given the time to finesse his substantial potential.
JUDGES’ SCORES: 15 out of 30 (Fives across the board in Week 1? I see we’re going back to OG “Dancing With the Stars” scoring! Absolutely here for it.)
SAFE: Tyler Cameron and pro Sharna Burgess
DANCE STYLE: Tango (to “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz)
Ooh, consider my interest piqued after this one. On the spectrum of “Bachelor”-verse contestants who have competed on “DWTS,” Tyler is leaning much more Joey Graziadei than Matt James (his real-life pal!), and for that, we can all be grateful. There’s some refining to be done here, but this tango was quick for a first attempt, and Tyler kept up with both the pace and his partner quite nicely.
SAFE: Guillermo Rodriguez and pro Witney Carson
DANCE STYLE: Cha-cha (to “Mr. Big Stuff” by Jean Knight)
Let’s all be honest with ourselves: This was pretty much what we expected from Guillermo, right? Said with love! But ever since he announced his “DWTS” casting on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in that ruffled shirt, Guillermo’s attitude toward the competition has seemed to be, “Eh, this is silly” — and even the tone of Guillermo’s pre-performance video package was more slapstick than those typically are for the weak dancers. In turn, this cha-cha had minimal real cha-cha from Guillermo (I bow down to Witney, basically dancing for three during the routine), but at least it was fun. And he’ll be back next week, so, we’ll see what that means!
JUDGES’ SCORE: 10 out of 30 (oof, it’s been a while since we saw those “3” paddles come out)
SAFE: Ezra Frech and pro Daniella Karagach
DANCE STYLE: Tango (to “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson)
Full disclosure here: After Ezra revealed the potential for his running blade to possibly buckle and fall off in the middle of a routine — the way it’s done during some of his races — I spent entirely too much of his performance worrying that would happen. Didn’t the blade suddenly look so fragile as he and Daniella whipped around the dance floor? I was terrified for him! Fortunately, all equipment remained intact during the dance, but I admittedly had to rely on Carrie Ann, Derek, and Bruno to tell me how well Ezra did. Upon rewatching? Yeah, this guy’s a contender. And he and Daniella earned the evening’s first sevens, which was quite a compliment, given many of the other scores.
SAFE: Connor Wood and pro Rylee Arnold
DANCE STYLE: Cha-cha (to “I Like It, I Love It” by Tim McGraw)
Another pleasant surprise here! Connor isn’t the buzziest name on the Season 35 roster, and I think that’s working to his advantage, at least in this first week: While anticipation has been building for guys like Taylor Hanson and Harry Shum Jr., Connor has been able to do his thing in the background, resulting in a competent and entertaining cha-cha this time around. (I especially liked that little honky-tonk side-by-side section in the middle of the number, where Connor kept up with Rylee well.) As with Tyler Cameron, Connor’s rough around the edges, to be sure, but I’m looking forward to seeing what he delivers in future episodes.
SAFE: Taylor Hanson and pro Britt Stewart
DANCE STYLE: Quickstep (to “Tell Her About It” by Billy Joel)
A quickstep? In Week 1? Yeah, I don’t envy Taylor. Not only is this style dreaded across all dance competition shows — even by pros! — but Britt gave Taylor some really dense, really precise quickstep choreography to master. It’s no wonder there were some mistakes in his performance, but the Hanson singer recovered quickly, and he showcased quite a bit of promise for the weeks ahead.
SAFE: Harry Shum Jr. and pro Jenna Johnson
DANCE STYLE: Cha-cha (to “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire)
There are many reasons I’ll never quit this show, and one of them is this bonkers reaction from Bruno Tonioli after Harry’s dance concluded: “Excuse me! Look at me, Dr. Steamy! I’m having a seizure!” You simply never know what’s going to fly out of that man’s mouth, and I love it so much.
Anyway, on to Harry and Jenna’s performance, which was expectedly great, but not perfect — and that’s kinda nice! I’m glad Harry has some areas for improvement, namely his tendency to over-exaggerate his arm and hand movements like he’s used to doing in commercial dancing. Good performances are a delight to watch — as “DWTS” exec producer Conrad Green asserted in my preview of Season 35 earlier today — but perfection is certainly boring, and I’m intrigued to see how Harry can grow moving forward.
JUDGES’ SCORES: 21 out of 30 (the highest score of the night!)
ELIMINATED: Conner Leavitt and pro Adele Zaikman
DANCE STYLE: Salsa (to “Whoomp! (There It Is)” by Tag Team)
Ahead of Season 35, Conner confirmed to my colleague Ryan Schwartz that he was feeling the pressure of high expectations after appearing in wife Whitney’s contemporary routine last season (and nailing his part of the dance). Our expectations were duly tempered, then, after this bizarre and slightly frenzied salsa that never quite locked in to authentic salsa movements. That might have been a choreographing shortcoming of rookie pro Adele’s, but even the more loosey-goosey choreography that she gave Conner seemed to overwhelm him a bit. All told, it was a perplexing start for this pair, and I’m not entirely surprised it resulted in their elimination; here’s hoping Adele is invited back as a pro next season and gets a chance to really shine.
With that, I hand it over to you! Whose Night 1 performance did you enjoy the most? Cast your vote in our poll below, then drop a comment with your full reactions to the premiere!
