Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Opens With 2-Night Premiere on ABC, Disney+

Q: Will Jenna Dewan's prior dance experience prove to be an unfair advantage or a surprising curse during the brutal double-elimination premiere?

Jenna Dewan’s background is more likely to be both an early advantage and a source of added risk, rather than a simple unfair edge. She clearly starts with assets many competitors do not have: more than 25 years of dance experience, comfort performing live, and the ability to learn choreography quickly. In a premiere week with only one performance before a female elimination on Night 2, those skills could help her avoid the kind of shaky first outing that often sends contestants home early. But the evidence around her casting suggests ballroom may also be a genuine adjustment. Dewan has said ballroom is “a whole different language” and that she has had to “unlearn” habits from other styles. Val Chmerkovskiy has made the same point, arguing that high-level ballroom is a separate discipline and that her real challenge is meeting the higher expectations that come with her résumé. That expectation may be the bigger danger in a brutal premiere format. Viewers and judges may be less forgiving of mistakes from someone known for dance, especially in a week where women compete only against women and one goes home immediately. DWTS is also never judged on technique alone; fan voting and personal connection matter, and backlash over “ringer” casting can shape that. So Dewan is unlikely to be unfairly unbeatable. She may be safer than many rivals technically, but the pressure to impress instantly could make her experience feel as much like a burden as a benefit.

Q: Which star will stumble during the nostalgic birth-year dance challenge and face the DWTS After Party as an eliminated contestant?

It is not yet confirmed from the provided reporting which contestant will be the one to stumble and then appear on the new “DWTS After Party” as an eliminated star. What is confirmed is the format: Season 35 opens with a two-night premiere split by gender, with male celebrities dancing on Sept. 15 and female celebrities on Sept. 16. Each couple performs to a No. 1 song from the celebrity’s birth year, and one man is eliminated after Night 1 while one woman is eliminated after Night 2. The “DWTS After Party,” hosted by Robert Irwin, airs immediately after the second night and is expected to feature eliminated contestants. Coverage ahead of the premiere identified the setup and some likely pressure points, but not a verified result. Among the men, Guillermo Rodriguez posted the lowest reported judges’ score in Night 1 coverage at 10/30, while Conner Leavitt had 12/30, making them early vulnerable names based on score alone. Separate prediction-market chatter cited Taylor Hanson as a leading male elimination risk before results were official, but that was speculative rather than confirmed. So the most accurate answer is that the eliminated contestant heading into the “DWTS After Party” cannot be definitively named from the available information here. A confirmed answer requires the official end-of-episode results.

3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Sep 16

Season 35 launches Sept. 15-16 at 8 p.m. PT/ET with a two-night premiere airing on ABC and simulcast on Disney+.
Weekly episodes then shift to Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET, with next-day streaming on Hulu and live access also available through DirecTV, Fubo, Sling and Hulu + Live TV.
Robert Irwin, the season 34 champion, will host a new DWTS After Party on Sept. 16 at 10 p.m. PT/ET to recap the premiere and discuss a double elimination.
Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough return as co-hosts, while Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough return to the judges' table for the 35th season.