Overview
- Andy Richter announced the Season 35 theme nights on Friday, Sept. 18, with Week 2 as Viral Hits, Week 3 Yacht Rock, Week 4 Mariah Carey, Week 5 listed as TBA, and later weeks including Dedication, Horror Movie, Disney and Grammy nights.
- ABC published the full song-and-dance assignments for Viral Hits Night on Sept. 22, listing 14 couples and pairings such as Tatyana Ali performing a foxtrot to Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Tyler Cameron doing a salsa to “Girls” by The Kid LAROI.
- The season opened with a two-night, gender-split premiere that produced a double elimination of celebrities Conner Leavitt and Sarah Jane Nader and left two first-time pros, Adele Zaikman and Hailey Bills, out of competition as partners, though both are expected to appear in group numbers.
- Producers are emphasizing multi-platform voting and social promotion to boost real-time engagement after the premiere exposed operational strain when online voting temporarily failed on Night 1 and shows relied on text ballots on Night 1 before web voting was restored.
- Week 2 will be the first live test of the themed schedule and digital strategy and could affect momentum for contestants, the visibility of new pros sourced from The Next Pro, and viewer voting patterns as the field narrows toward the semi-finals.