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CIO Bulletin,
16 September, 2026
Author:
Sambhrant Das
Dancing with the Stars Returns for Season 35 with Explosive Performances Nostalgic Hits and Unexpected Voting Glitches
The well-known reality competition show Dancing with the Stars has finally launched its interesting 35th season with a two-day premiere on ABC and Disney+. The live telecast featured a total of eight male stars who took to the floor to perform lively numbers using some of the most popular songs from their birth years. The night was hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, and the judges were none other than the popular trio of Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
One of the contestants was the ex-Grey’s Anatomy star Harry Shum Jr., who took the lead in the dance competition. His enjoyable Cha-Cha routine with pro partner Jenna Johnson earned them an impressive score of 21 out of 30. The judges praised their performance, which was the first such performance of the season on the show.
Premiere night leaderboard highlights included the following:
Harry Shum Jr. & Jenna Johnson got 21 points for their great Cha-Cha routine.
Ezra Frech & Daniella Karagach received 20 points for their tango dance.
Tyler Cameron & Sharna Burgess earned 17 points for their traditional tango.
While the show was full of energy, the live show still faced a technical challenge while voting was taking place. Technical complications rendered the official online voting portal completely unavailable throughout the live East Coast broadcast. Consequently, show producers announced that all online submissions would be discarded for night one, forcing the national audience to rely exclusively on SMS text voting to keep their favorite celebrity couples safe from early dismissal.
The combined judge totals and audience text votes culminated in the season's first emotional departure.
Social media personality Conner Leavitt and his professional partner Adele Zaikman were named the first couple eliminated after their Salsa routine scored 12 points.
Primary factors shaping the initial elimination results included:
A narrow bottom-two scoring margin separating the lower half of the leaderboard.
Disruption in fan voting engagement caused by the temporary online platform outage.
The high pressure of opening-night single-performance scoring formats.
Navigating real-time technical difficulties while executing high-volume live interactive broadcasts underscores the operational complexities inherent in modern television networks. According to CIO Bulletin, this development indicates that an excellent production framework and redundancy are necessary for the success of live entertainment broadcasting.
Everything you need to know about this news
After finishing their salsa performance, Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman became the first couple to be eliminated.
By getting the highest score of the night, which was equal to 21 out of 30, Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson managed to get ahead of all others.
The producers had to manage the program based on SMS messages only, due to the failure of the voting portal.
New episodes are broadcast on ABC and Disney+ and can be viewed the next day on Hulu.
This year, every performer gets to show their talents during both days of the premiere.
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