Dancing With the Stars recap

Design by Alexandra Prado

For 34 seasons and counting, the elite ballroom dancing competition Dancing with the Stars, has won fans’ hearts. It originally premiered on ABC in 2005 and has been simulcast live on both ABC and Disney+ for the past few years. This season, over 8 million viewers watched live from their homes every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST from September through November. Iconic judges, Carrie Anne Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli, celebrity contestants, and dance professionals who devote their lives to the art, have created a sensation in which fans vote for their favorite contestants to win the Mirrorball trophy. This year garnered over 14 million accumulated votes from fans either voting on the official website or by SMS texting.

The celebrities are always chosen from a diversity of professions, from gymnasts to basketball players to football stars. This season’s cast consisted of five social media personalities (Alix Earle, Dylan Effron, Whitney Leavitt, Jen Affleck, and Hilaria Baldwin), two singers (Scott Hoying and Carrollton alumna Lauren Jauregui), four actors/entertainers (Corey Feldman, Danielle Fisher, Elaine Hendrix, Andy Richter), two athletes (Jordan Chiles, Baron Davis), and one wildlife conservationist (Robert Irwin). 

“This season [was] more competitive from the contestants they chose. It’s gotten better year after year,” said Alessandra Yu ‘29. 

Carrollton Fans Debate 

Out of 160 students in the Upper School, 54% percent thought Earle and partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy would win. 24% percent thought Irwin and Witney Carson would achieve the Mirrorball, and the other 11% predicted Leavitt and Mark Ballas would be the winners.

“Alix Earle and Val are going to win Dancing With the Stars because Alix has been the most improved and is always at the top of the leaderboard…no matter her state of mind, she always executes each style of dance with passion and charisma,” said Alana Dibildox ‘28.

The Upper School also voted on who they wanted to win. 56% voted for Earle and Chmerkovskiy. 28% voted for Irwin and Carson, and 16% voted for Chiles and Sosa.

“I think that Robert deserves to win because he shows the most growth and athleticism,” said Yu. 

In the end, Irwin and Carson achieved the Mirrorball trophy after weeks of hard work. Irwin was able to push through a rib injury, which made it difficult for him to perform. For Carson, this win was especially meaningful. In season 27, she was sold short, ending in second place with her partner, Milo Manheim. This season, she was blessed to have Irwin as her partner and came back better than ever, stealing the judges’ hearts with inspiring, technical, eye-opening dances. 

This Season’s Weekly Themes 

Each week, a new theme was chosen for dancers to show off different skills.  Themes like Prince Night, challenged the contestants to see who would make it to the finale. This season was also DWTS’s 20th anniversary on air, so another theme was the 20th birthday party, and each couple danced to iconic and memorable dances from past seasons. There was also a Wicked Night for which John M. Chu, director of Wicked, joined the panel of judges.

For the finale, the top five contestants had to participate in a “Judges’ Choice” dance, which meant that a randomly-selected judge chose a song and type of ballroom dance he or she wanted the couple to perform to show improvement and growth from the beginning of the season. The couples then had to participate in an “Instant Dance Battle” where contestants and their partners had to put a dance together in less than a minute. The final dance of the night was the “Freestyle” dance, where the pros and celebrities went above and beyond with props, background dances, and choreography.

In the Upper School, 21.1% of students surveyed said their favorite week was “Wicked” Night, 18.4% said it was TikTok Night, 16.4% said Disney Night, 14.5% said Dedication Night, 12.5% said “Halloween Night,” and 7.9% said “20th Birthday Party.”