DWTS season 35 night 2 elimination results: Maura Higgins tops the board — a Traitors reunion did half the work
The women of DWTS season 35 finally got their turn Wednesday night, dancing to No. 1 hits from the year they were born, which is a theme designed specifically to make me feel ancient.
And because this season has decided mercy is for cowards, somebody went home. Again. Second night, second elimination, and we're not even out of premiere week.
The bad news first
Sarah Jane Nader and her partner Hailey Bills — a first-time pro, which stings extra — were the couple sent packing after a jive to "Sk8er Boi." Nader had specifically asked for a female partner so a queer couple could take the ballroom floor, which ruled, but the judges spent the whole critique on sync issues, and the votes didn't save her. She joins Conner Leavitt, who got the boot after the men's night, and 14 couples now live to dance another Tuesday.
Here's how the judges' scores shook out:
- Maura Higgins & Mark Ballas — 21/30
- Jenna Dewan & Val Chmerkovskiy — 19/30
- Amber Glenn & Pasha Pashkov — 18/30
- Julia Stiles & Ezra Sosa — 18/30
- Giada De Laurentiis & Alan Bersten — 16/30
- Ciara Miller & Brandon Armstrong — 15/30
- Tatyana Ali & Jan Ravnik — 12/30
Yes, that's Jenna Dewan — professional dancer, Step Up veteran, ringer of ringers — sitting below a Love Island alum with zero dance training. Let's discuss.
DWTS season 35 premiere twist: a double elimination not seen since 2018
The scheming paid off
Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas met in a Scottish castle as Faithfuls on The Traitors, and apparently the castle bonding translates directly into foxtrot chemistry. Their routine to "Black Velvet" was a full Traitors homage — hooded figures, the Birkin bag, the works — and Ballas pulled off a genuinely unhinged save when their planned vocalist got stuck at America's Got Talent: his wife BC Jean learned the song in a day and sang it live. Higgins became the first woman this season to pull straight sevens from all three judges.
"You foxy traitor. So seductive. So enticing," Bruno Tonioli told her, and honestly, same.
Higgins, for her part, could barely process it: "I honestly am in shock and disbelief... I just blacked out." A woman wins the night and remembers none of it. Reality TV heroine behavior.
The remaining couples return September 22, when the mirrorball math gets meaner and Dewan presumably starts plotting.
Previously we wrote: Ezra Frech is Dancing with the Stars' first Paralympian in 8 years
