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Mary Overbey (10) holds a "perfect 10" sign up while watching Dancing with the Stars.
Live from Hollywood, it’s Dancing with the Stars! ABC’s Dancing with the Stars is currently premiering its 34th season, with viewership being at an all time high.
Each season 14 celebrity stars are paired up with a professional dancer who choreographs and coaches the stars into dancers in a ballroom style competition. Each week a couple gets eliminated based on a combination of the judges scores and votes from fans across the country.
This season, there are plenty of recognizable faces including Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles, wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin, and many more. This season the show has been leaning into social media influencers including Alix Earle, Dylan Efron and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars Jen Afflack and Whittney Levitt.
“I feel like they have been using a lot more social media influencers and because of this they are getting more hype” Sydney Ventura (12), a weekly viewer, said.
Over the past few seasons, Dancing with the Stars has been using social media to their advantage, drawing in younger generations of viewers.
“I feel like the social media makes people want to watch [Dancing with the Stars] more because it kind of gives hints of ‘oh this is what we are doing on the show, you should come watch’” Lilian Kristiansen (11) a Dancing with the Stars superfan, said.
Stars and Pros alike have taken to social media platforms to promote their partnerships with TikToks, Instagram stories and more. Dancing with the Stars has also started a TikTok live show every week during the taping of the live shows giving fans exclusive behind the scenes of a show day.
Fans enjoy the interactive aspect of the show where they can vote for their favorite couple week to week. Viewers have been breaking their own voting records weekly with the highest being 55 million votes on Halloween Night.
Viewership of the show has increased dramatically this season. The season 33 finale averaged about 8 million viewers, whereas the season 34 premiere alone racked up close to 8.13 million viewers, and continues to grow rapidly.
The panel of ballroom expert judges consists of Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli. Many fans question the fairness of the judges, because their scores seem to differ depending on the contest. Some fans argue that the show is about how the star grows throughout the weeks, while others argue it is based on the raw talent and complexity of the routine.
“They have been judging Dylan on growth and not based on how good the dance is. Whereas if they were judging Andy based on growth he would get eights not sixes” Chloe Hibner (12), a consistent watcher, said.
Currently, Alix Earle, Whitney Levitt and Robert Irwin are leading the pack, whereas actress Elaine Hendrix and comedian Andy Richter hover at the bottom, Richter being saved from elimination weekly solely from fan votes.
“[Celebrities] are being partnered up with these [pros] and having to learn so quickly and seeing a person do that is inspiring” Hibner (12) said.
Fans are eager to tune into the rest of the season to see how the rest of the season progresses and who will be crowned champion and win the mirrorball trophy.
Dancing with the Stars can be watched on ABC or streamed on Disney+ every Tuesday at 8pm, and fans can text 21523 the first name of their favorite star to vote for them to stay in the competition.
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