Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Premiere Recap: Ladies’ Night
It was an exciting ladies’ night on the season 35 premiere of Dancing With the Stars, featuring female celebrities stepping onto the ballroom floor for the first time. The season kicked off with a unique two-night premiere, where the male stars performed one night and the female stars on the next.
Premiere Night Details
The female contestants included:
- Tatyana Ali (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
- Giada De Laurentiis (celebrity chef)
- Jenna Dewan (The Rookie)
- Amber Glenn (Olympic gold medalist)
- Maura Higgins (reality star)
- Ciara Miller (Summer House)
- Sarah Jane Nader (reality star)
- Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You)
At the end of the night, unfortunately, Sarah Jane Nader was eliminated after receiving the lowest scores. She was partnered with Hailey Bills, a first-time pro dancer.
Score Highlights
Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov opened the night with a high score of 18/30, while Julia Stiles matched that score later with a quickstep to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” However, it was Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas who shone the brightest, leading the night with 21/30—making her the first female contestant to receive a seven paddle from all judges.
Male Contestants Overview
The previous night, male competitors included:
- Tyler Cameron (The Bachelorette)
- Ezra Frech (Paralympic gold medalist)
- Taylor Hanson (Hanson)
- Conner Leavitt (reality star)
- Jackson Olson (Savannah Bananas baseball)
- Guillermo Rodriguez (Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
- Harry Shum Jr. (Grey’s Anatomy)
- Connor Wood (influencer/comedian)
Harry Shum Jr. topped the leaderboard for the men with a score of 21/30, while Conner Leavitt was the first to be eliminated.
Viewership
The premiere drew in 6.67 million viewers, marking a 24% increase compared to the previous year’s debut. This made it the most-watched season premiere since season 29 in September 2020.
Voting Issues
Voting for the dancers faced some technical difficulties, with online polling crashing during the live broadcast. As a result, only text votes were accepted on the first night.
Scores from the Ladies’ Night Episode:
- Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik: 12/30
- Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov: 18/30
- Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong: 15/30
- Giada De Laurentiis and Alan Bersten: 16/30
- Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa: 18/30
- Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas: 21/30
- Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills: 14/30 (ELIMINATED)
- Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy: 19/30
Next Episodes
Dancing With the Stars airs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC and is available for streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
