DWTS season 35 premiere twist: a double elimination not seen since 2018 — and fan reaction is already ugly
Babe, wake up, the ballroom is doing crimes again. Dancing with the Stars decided that Season 35 — a season with sixteen couples, the sequins budget of a small nation, and Julia Stiles — needed a little extra spice.
The spice: a double elimination during the two-night premiere. Boys dance Tuesday, one goes home. Girls dance Wednesday, one goes home. Last time the show pulled this move was 2018, during the all-athletes season, which was so short it barely counted as a season and more as a group activity.
The twist, explained (badly, by everyone)
Here's the full damage, in case you were busy having a life:
- The premiere is split by gender: all eight men on night one, all eight women on night two.
- Everyone dances to a No. 1 hit from the year they were born, which is mostly a machine for making Gen X feel ancient.
- One couple gets cut each night — after exactly one dance, one costume, and zero chance to show growth.
Even the pros are side-eyeing it. Mark Ballas, a man who has survived 22 seasons of this show, told Hulu's Get Real podcast that he'd never even been through one of these, adding, as Parade reported, "It's not even an even playing field, right?" His partner Maura Higgins summed up the general cast mood with "That is so scary." Girl, same.
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The internet would like a word
The fandom did not take this gracefully, and by "gracefully" I mean they lit up the DWTS subreddit like a Vegas-night group number.
"I just don't believe in first week eliminations," wrote one fan, speaking for roughly everyone who has ever cried during a Most Improved package.
"1st night elim is so stupid imo," offered another, and honestly, the lack of punctuation only makes it more powerful.
A third mourned the math itself: "I hate 16 partnerships for this reason. 14 is the PERFECT amount." Which — fair! You cannot cast a small village and then start voting people off the island before they've unpacked.
And then the voting broke
The cherry on this rhinestoned sundae: the actual premiere came with a voting glitch, because of course the one week your vote could save someone from a one-and-done exit is the week the system hiccuped. A man went home Tuesday after a single salsa. The women dance Wednesday, and one of them will follow.
The show wanted stakes. It got a fandom sharpening pitchforks by week one. Technically, that is engagement.
Previously we wrote: Hell's Kitchen winners: where are they now? All 24, including the ones who never took the job
