Amanda LynneDancing With The Stars Season 35 is coming in hot. The premiere, which has been broken into two nights, will air on Sept. 15 and 16. However, it won’t be the usual two-night premiere that so many DWTS fans have seen in the past. This time, there’s a big elimination twist, and it might not be fair to all the contestants.
Pro dancer Mark Ballas recently spoke out about the new DWTS elimination twist, which will see the male contestants compete on one night of the premiere and the female contestants on another night. Then one from each group will be eliminated.
DWTS Reveals New Elimination Twist for Season 35
“I don’t think I was even on the show when that happened,” Dancing With The Stars fan-favorite Mark Ballas told E! News. “It’s not an even playing field, right? It’s like the cast is split in half and someone’s going. It’s kind of like boys over there, girls over there, one of you is going from each group, right?”
Meanwhile, the cast has raised eyebrows with some fans. Stars such as Jenna Dewan, who has dance training and starred in the dance flick Step Up, will certainly be one to watch out for. Actress Julia Stiles, known for her role in the film Save the Last Dance, also has experience. However, they both confirm that they’ve never had any ballroom training.
Ballas Defends the Show’s Casting Choices
However, Ballas doesn’t think it should be a big deal, especially because the show is all about entertainment.
“This is not a legitimate dance competition—it’s an entertainment show on television for families, right?” he said. “I also think that even though there is dancing on the show and you want to root, you want to see great dancing, it’s also like about experience.”
“So, I feel like there’s something for every fan,” he added. “Some fans want to see banger dances. Some fans want to see someone from ground zero make it. Some people want to see like someone with no experience improve every week. Some people with no experience won’t improve every week, but you fall in love with the personality, right?”
How Dancing With The Stars Eliminations Work
Under DWTS’s typical format, eliminations are decided by a combined score: 50% from the judges and 50% from viewer votes rather than a strict head-to-head format like this season’s premiere twist, per Prime Timer. Former pro Lindsay Arnold has explained the system as a “score pie,” where each couple earns a percentage slice based on both their judges’ scores and their share of the public vote, with the lowest combined total usually landing in the bottom and facing elimination.
Typically, Week 1 doesn’t feature any elimination at all. First-week scores are often combined with Week 2 results before anyone goes home. That makes Season 35’s decision to send two couples home after just one dance each especially unusual, and explains why the twist has caught fans and even pros like Ballas off guard.
Amanda Lynne focuses on human interest news, entertainment topics, and trending news. She has nearly 20 years of experience writing online news for several outlets.
