DWTS Season 35 Cast: All 16 Couples, Premiere Date, Channel & Live Stream
Update log (3)
- — Scheduled re-read, as this page's own decay note asked for. The two-night premiere has now happened, so every future-tense reference to it is gone and the two week-one eliminations are marked in the cast table: Conner Leavitt with Adele Zaikman on night one, Sarah Jane Nader with Hailey Bills on night two. Fourteen couples are still competing. A verification line saying nobody had danced yet was removed because it had become false.
- — Rewritten the same day, once the cast was actually out. An earlier refresh this morning was researched at about 4:51 a.m. Eastern — roughly two hours BEFORE the Good Morning America segment that announced the cast — so it still said ABC had published no cast list, still described the reveal in the future tense, and still carried ten names. There are 16 couples. Every pairing below was checked against two independent sources that agree.
- — Earlier the same day, before the reveal: corrected the announcement-provenance column (Miller and Higgins came at Hulu's Get Real event on 22 April, not the Disney upfront; Olson at the upfront on 12 May) and added Adele Zaikman, who won The Next Pro on 31 August and takes the new professional slot.
Re-read on 17 September was done: the premiere is now past-tense and the two week-one eliminations are recorded below. The next hard date is week two, Tuesday 22 September 2026, when a third couple leaves and the ‘still competing’ count drops again. This page is now a starting-line-up record, so the cast table itself stops changing — only the eliminated column does.
Everything else on the page is unaffected; the figures below still say when they were read.
- All 16 celebrity-professional pairings for Dancing with the Stars season 35 were announced on Good Morning America on Wednesday 2 September 2026.
- Sixteen couples ties the largest cast in the show’s history, level with seasons 9 and 31.
- Season 35 premiered across two nights — Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 September, 8 p.m. ET on ABC, streaming live on Disney+ and next-day on Hulu. One couple was eliminated each night, leaving 14 still competing.
- Reigning season 34 champion Witney Carson partners Guillermo Rodriguez of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Sharna Burgess returns from a multi-year absence, with Tyler Cameron.
- The same-sex pairing reported ahead of the announcement was correct: Sarah Jane Nader is partnered with professional Hailey Bills.
- Adele Zaikman, who won The Next Pro on 31 August, went straight into the cast with Conner Leavitt.
All 16 couples for season 35 of Dancing with the Stars were announced on Good Morning America on Wednesday 2 September 2026. Sixteen is the largest cast the show has ever fielded, tying seasons 9 and 31.
The two-night premiere ran on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 September, 8 p.m. ET on ABC, and took one couple out each night — Conner Leavitt and Sarah Jane Nader . Fourteen couples are still competing.
The full season 35 cast
| Celebrity | Known for | Pro partner |
|---|---|---|
| Tatyana Ali | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Jan Ravnik |
| Tyler Cameron | The Bachelorette | Sharna Burgess |
| Giada De Laurentiis | Food Network chef | Alan Bersten |
| Jenna Dewan | The Rookie | Val Chmerkovskiy |
| Ezra Frech | Paralympic athlete | Daniella Karagach |
| Amber Glenn | Olympic figure skater | Pasha Pashkov |
| Taylor Hanson | Hanson | Britt Stewart |
| Maura Higgins | Love Island, The Traitors | Mark Ballas |
| Conner Leavitt | Secret Lives of Mormon Wives | Adele Zaikman † |
| Ciara Miller | Summer House | Brandon Armstrong |
| Sarah Jane Nader | Love Thy Nader | Hailey Bills † |
| Jackson Olson | Savannah Bananas | Emma Slater |
| Guillermo Rodriguez | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Witney Carson |
| Harry Shum Jr. | Glee, Grey’s Anatomy | Jenna Johnson |
| Julia Stiles | Save the Last Dance | Ezra Sosa |
| Connor Wood | Comedian and podcaster | Rylee Arnold |
† Eliminated in week one — see who went home .
Every row was checked against two independent sources that agree on all 16.
The pairings worth knowing about
Witney Carson with Guillermo Rodriguez. Carson won season 34 and comes back partnered with Jimmy Kimmel’s longtime sidekick — the pairing that was announced early, in August, well ahead of the rest.
Sharna Burgess with Tyler Cameron. Burgess returns to the ballroom after a multi-year absence, drawing the Bachelorette alum.
Adele Zaikman with Conner Leavitt. Zaikman won The Next Pro on 31 August and was in the season 35 cast two days later. That is about as fast a promotion as the format allows.
Sarah Jane Nader with Hailey Bills. Ahead of the announcement, TMZ reported that Nader would be partnered with a female professional. That turned out to be right. It follows JoJo Siwa with Jenna Johnson in season 30 and Shangela with Gleb Savchenko in season 31.
Julia Stiles with Ezra Sosa. Stiles starred in Save the Last Dance, a film about dancing, which the show will not let anyone forget.
When does DWTS season 35 premiere?
It already has. Season 35 premiered on Tuesday 15 September and Wednesday 16 September 2026, both nights at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT. Week two is Tuesday 22 September.
It was a two-night launch rather than a single premiere, which the show has used before to get all 16 couples on the floor without a four-hour episode. The men danced on night one and the women on night two, and each night ended with an elimination — see who went home in week one .
What channel is DWTS on, and how do I stream it?
| Where | When |
|---|---|
| ABC | Live, 8 p.m. ET |
| Disney+ | Live, simultaneously |
| Hulu | Next day |
The live/next-day split is the thing to get right. If you want to vote or avoid spoilers, ABC and Disney+ are the live options; Hulu is catch-up.
For cord-cutters, ABC is carried by the main live-TV streaming bundles, and Disney+ carries the show live in its own right — that arrangement has been running for several seasons now.
Who is hosting and judging season 35?
Hosts: Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough.
Judges: Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
Both panels are unchanged, which after several seasons of turnover is itself the news.
How many couples are on DWTS season 35?
Sixteen — tying the largest cast in the show’s history, alongside season 9 and season 31.
That is why the premiere ran across two nights. Sixteen couples cannot dance in one two-hour episode, so the field was split. After week one, 14 are left.
Is Dancing with the Stars on Netflix or Prime Video?
No. Season 35 is on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu only.
There is no Netflix or Prime Video route to the current season in the US. Older seasons have moved around between services over the years, but the live show has been an ABC and Disney property throughout.
Who is Adele Zaikman?
The newest professional on the cast, and the fastest arrival in the group.
She won The Next Pro on 31 August 2026 — the competition that awards a professional slot on the main show — and was announced as Conner Leavitt’s partner on 2 September, two days later.
Sources
Cast and pairings: TVLine’s season 35 cast list and Wikipedia’s season 35 couples table, which agree on all 16. Premiere dates, hosts and judges: ABC News/GMA. The cast was announced on Good Morning America on 2 September 2026.