Overview
- The 20th‑anniversary season premiered live Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.
- Carrie Ann Inaba missed the premiere due to illness, leaving Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli to score performances out of 20 points.
- Robert Irwin and Whitney Leavitt topped the Week 1 leaderboard at 15/20 under the revised two‑judge scoring.
- Eliminations are determined by judges' scores combined with live viewer votes, which are accepted during the initial simulcast only.
- Viewers can vote online at dwtsvote.abc.com or via SMS, up to 10 votes per method per couple, with a double elimination planned for the next episode.