“Dancing with the Stars” is a dance show that has had success since its debut in 2005; where celebrities paired with professional dancers perform choreographed dances each week to a panel of judges in hopes to not get eliminated. The show premiered its 34th season on Sept. 16, 2025. Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough came back this season to co-host the show again for their third season. The show is filmed at Television City Studios in Los Angeles and premiered live Tuesday night.
After 17 years of being on DWTS, judge Len Goodman died of cancer in 2023. The DWTS trophy, originally called the Mirrorball Trophy, was renamed to the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, in his honor. The winning couple receives said trophy when they win the season. In previous years, DWTS has had four judges on the judge panel, but since 2023, there have only been three, including Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough. Hough was a former pro dancer on the show who won the Mirrorball Trophy six times. The show also invites guest judges to make an appearance throughout the season.
This season has 14 celebrities, each coupled with a pro dancer. The list of celebrity dancers this year consist of actors, comedians, olympians and a wildlife conservationist. From the reality TV show, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” are Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt. The celebrity actors dancing on the show are Dylan Efron, Corey Feldman, Danielle Fishel and Elaine Hendrix. Athletes on the show include Jordan Chiles, an Olympic gold medalist and Baron Davis, an NBA All-Star. Some other stars who had unique ways of becoming famous were social media influencer, Alix Earle, Scott Hoying, a singer from an a cappella group called Pentatonix and Robert Irwin, a wildlife conservationist. The last of the celebrity dancers are Lauren Jauregui, singer from Fifth Harmony and Andy Richter, a successful comedian.
Each week on DWTS has a new theme that all the dances will be centered around. The first show; however, does not have a theme because it is the season premiere. The second week is One Hit Wonders night, where each couple chooses a “one hit wonder” to control their dance to. The following week is TikTok night, which will most likely implement TikTok trending audios and dances. The first week of October starts with Disney night, to celebrate Disneyland’s 70th anniversary. Following that is Dedication night, each famous person selects a person in their life who has made an impact on them to dedicate their dance to. Next will be Wicked night, in honor of the heavily anticipated film, “Wicked: For Good” and its premiere. The week of Halloween will have a Halloween themed episode on Oct. 28. Starting in November, is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame night, using songs from artists from the hall of fame. Then a 20th Birthday Party in celebration of “Dancing with the Star’s” 20th anniversary of being on television. The semi-final show is Prince night, and lastly is the three hour finale which does not have a theme.
Every Tuesday night when DWTS is live, you are able to text the celebrities first name in all caps to the number 21523. You are allowed to vote ten times; all of your votes could go to the same contestant or ten different contestants. The voting is open until the window closes, which is typically a few minutes before the show ends that night. The 34th season premiere received 21 million votes and hit 5.5 million viewers on the night of this year’s premiere show.
