This season, “Dancing with the Stars” added two brand new pro dancers that were paired with celebrity contestants, but after the first week of competition, both of them have been eliminated.
Hailey Bills and Adele Zaikman, the two first-time pros who have been eliminated, will now join the show’s troupe. Bills, who was part of the show’s second female and female pairing with Sarah Jane Nader, became a pro after being part of the troupe last year. Zaikman, who was paired with Conner Leavitt, became a pro after winning the spinoff series “Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro.”
The eliminations came as part of Season 35’s two-night premiere. On Tuesday, each of the eight male celebrity contestants and their pro partners performed to a hit song from the year they were born. On Wednesday, all of the female celebrity contestants did the same with their pro partners.
Zaikman and Leavitt were the first to be eliminated, after performing on Tuesday night. Bills and Nader performed on Wednesday night with the rest of the female celebrity contestants and were eliminated at the end of the episode.
The dance styles featured in Wednesday’s episode included foxtrot, quickstep, jive, cha-cha and tango.
Here’s a look at what happened during Wednesday’s episode of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills’ performance and elimination
Nader is known for starring in the reality TV show “Love Thy Nader” with her family. She was already familiar with the “Dancing with the Stars” ballroom after her sister Brooks competed on the show a couple of years ago.
Bills, who lived in Utah for part of her life, was part of the show’s troupe last year and joined the other pros on the show’s live tour earlier this year.
After being paired together, Bills and Nader became the show’s second-ever female and female pairing after Jojo Siwa and Jenna Johnson in 2021.
During Wednesday’s episode, Nader and Bills performed a jive to “Sk8er Boi” by Avril Lavigne.
After the performance, judge Carrie Ann Inaba said, “Can I just say what we’re all thinking? That was super hot!” She then added: “You were out of sync most of the dance, unfortunately.”
Judge Derek Hough said that he could see the potential but wanted more content in the dance, and he also pointed out that they were out of sync.
The judges gave the pair a combined score of 14 out of 30.
At the end of the night, all the couples lined up on stage and the show’s hosts announced that Bills and Nader has been eliminated.
About her elimination, Nader said she was “obviously sad that we got eliminated.” She also said that “we had so much fun out there,” and “I wouldn’t change a thing about this experience.”
How did the rest of the female celebrity contestants do?
Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas
“Love Island” and “Traitors” star Maura Higgins and her pro partner Mark Ballas performed a foxtrot to “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles. Ballas and Higgins both competed together on “Traitors” earlier this year.
“You foxy traitor!” judge Bruno Tonioli said after their dance. “So seductive, so enticing, smooth as silk and ready for the kill.” He added that she nailed the movement of the foxtrot: “The movement on Week 1, I’ve never seen something like that of that level of quality.”
Score: 21 out of 30
Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy
Actress Jenna Dewan performed a tango with her pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy to “Call Me” by Blondie.
“It literally had so much power, so much energy, and I think part of that actually, for me, made the shoulders go up a little bit,” said Hough about the performance. “It felt a little frantic in places. We have the broad strokes, now look for the fine details.”
Score: 19 out of 30
Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov
Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn and her pro partner Pashkov did a cha-cha to “Smooth” by Santana featuring Rob Thomas.
About the performance, Hough said, “OK ice queen, I see you, that solo section was spicy.” He added that she needs to dig into the floor more to be “more grounded” instead of gliding as much.
Score: 18 out of 30
Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa
Actress Julia Stiles and her pro partner Ezra Sosa did a quickstep to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”
“It was really clean,” said judge Carrie Ann Inaba about the dance and also complimented Stiles on being an expansive performer. She also critiqued Stiles’ arm placement, saying she didn’t extend her arm as much as she should.
Score: 18 out of 30
Giada De Laurentiis and Alan Bersten
Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis did a tango to “Venus” by Shocking Blue with her pro partner Alan Bersten.
Hough said that the performance “wasn’t a bad first dance by any means” but it felt “careful.” He added: “You have all the ingredients, now I just need you to cook with conviction.”
Score: 16 out of 30
Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong
Reality TV star Ciara Miller performed a foxtrot with her pro partner Brandon Armstrong to Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”
“You made me cry,” Inaba said to Miller. “Cause I can see the pain that you have. I can feel it. That’s the beautiful thing about dance, it gives you a place to express that.” She also said her lines were “beautiful.”
Score: 15 out of 30
Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik
Actress Tatyana Ali and her pro partner Jan Ravnik did a jive to “Knock on Wood” by Amii Stewart.
Hough said Ali was a “ball of sunshine” but added that her jive fell “a little flat” and was off time. Tonioli said, “You just have to keep it going through the dance, baby.”
Score: 12 out of 30
Derek Hough’s dance number during the premiere
During Wednesday’s episode, Hough performed a piece from his tour called “The Rose” that he adapted for the ballroom. He said that he named the piece “The Rose” because of his wife, Haley Erbert.
Erbert was part of the paso doble dance, along with dancers from Hough’s tour.
When is the next episode of ‘Dancing with the Stars’?
Season 35 will continue next Tuesday at 7 p.m. MDT. It will air on Disney+ and ABC. The episode will be available the next day on Hulu.