Overview
- The show will open as a live two‑night event, with male celebrities performing on Tuesday, Sept. 15 and female celebrities on Wednesday, Sept. 16, and one elimination at the end of each episode.
- Viewer voting will be open only for the couples competing that night, available online at dwtsvote.abc.com and by SMS on participating U.S. carriers, and those votes will be combined with judges’ scores to determine each night’s elimination.
- Week 1 uses a birth‑year theme: every contestant will dance to a No. 1 hit from the year they were born, a format meant to create immediate audience connections to each performance.
- Season 35 features 16 celebrity‑pro pairs, returning hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough, and introduces Adele Zaikman from Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro as a new professional partner.
- Producers are emphasizing digital engagement to drive votes, and outlets report — but ABC has not broadly confirmed — that social‑media activity may be required of contestants; the early double elimination shortens newcomers’ runway to improve and makes audience mobilization more decisive.