The sparkling debut of the 33rd season of “Dancing With The Stars” (DWTS) premiered Sept. 17, with almost five million fans tuning in to watch an exciting start to the iconic show.
There are 13 contestants in this year’s competition including two popular olympians, Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher, as well as three reality television stars; Jenn Tran, Joey Graziadei and Phaedra Parks. Most controversially, Anna Delvey, the former con artist, was a competitor this year, wearing an ankle monitor during the show.
The three judges for season 33 are long-time seats Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough. This is Hough’s fifth year on “DWTS” after he took beloved Len Goodmans’ seat following his retirement in season 28. The hosts are former contestant, Alfonso Ribeiro and former dancer, Julianne Hough.
Week one’s premiere was a no-elimination round, allowing all the contestants to perform two weeks in a row without getting eliminated. Favorites from this performance were Nedoroscik with his partner Rylee Arnold, Dwight Howard with his partner Daniella Karagach and the highest-scoring couple of the night Chandler Kinney with her partner Brandon Armstrong.
Week two’s theme was Oscars Night, having the contestants dance to songs from award-winning movies. Eric Roberts was the only Oscars award nominee on the dance floor scoring a 15/30 from both nights.
The second week of competition, however, was a double elimination night. Two couples with the lowest combined score and the least amount of fan votes would be leaving the competition. Voted out was Delvey with her partner, Ezra Sosa and Tori Spelling, famed “Beverly Hills: 90210” actress, with her partner, Pasha Pashkov.
Delvey sparked just as much controversy leaving as she did when fans found out that she would be joining the show. Right after she had been eliminated from the competition, co-host Hough asked Delvey what she was going to take away from the experience, the response from the former felon being, “Nothing.”
Nonetheless, the dazzling performances from Oscars Night were simply stunning all across the dance floor. Arnold and Nedoroscik danced to the iconic “Superman” theme title, playing along with the Clark Kent jokes made about Nedoroscik at the summer Olympics. Kinney and Armstrong also danced a mesmerizing rumba to “What Was I Made For?” from the “Barbie” Movie, blowing fans away with their performance. Another highlight of the night was basketball player, Howard and his partner, Karagach, performing a beautiful foxtrot to “City of Stars” from the highly acclaimed film “La La Land.”
Due to the vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, hosts Hough and Ribiero explained that the next two episodes of the show will air back-to-back Oct. 7 and 8. With week three’s theme being “Soul Train.” The show will return to their normal schedule of new episodes every Tuesday at 8 p.m Eastern time and 5 p.m. Pacific time.
