On Sept. 17, the 33rd season of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ hit TVs across the country with 13 celebrity-professional dancer couples ready to perform a variety of Latin and ballroom styles of dance and compete for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
Partnered up with rookie pro Ezra Sosa, con artist Anna Delvey was a controversial casting choice. Sporting a bejeweled ankle monitor, Delvey was eliminated the second week of the competition with actress Tori Spelling and pro Pasha Pashkov, and claimed she received nothing out of her DWTS experience. Actor Erik Roberts and pro Britt Benae and actor Reggie Veljohnson and pro Emma Slater were also quick to be eliminated. Eliminations are based upon a combination of viewer’s votes and judges’ scores, meaning contestants eliminated early were lacking in at least one of these categories.
Season 33 brought back DWTS’ troupe dancers, which are comparable to the ensemble of a play. Troupe members are professional dancers who are not paired up with a celebrity, but may perform as backup dancers in the episode’s opening routine. This season also featured classic theme nights such as Disney Night and Halloween Night, encompassed new themes such as Soul Train Night and Hair Metal Night and celebrated DWTS’ 500th episode.
A highlight from this season was during week five’s Dedication Night where six-time Mirroball Champion and judge Derek Hough took the stage with fellow professional dancer and wife Hayley Erbert. This was Erbert’s first return to the ballroom after she was diagnosed with a cranial hematoma as a result of a burst blood vessel last winter.
Alongside her partner, Brandon Armstrong, Zombies actress Chandler Kinney came on the show with years of dance training and was a standout performer since the premiere. This has become a continuous troupe on the show with talented celebrities entering the competition with prior experience, raising the question of how much dance experience is too much for it to be deemed an unfair advantage.
Fans have been left to speculate regarding two showmances to come out of the season: model Brooks Nader and pro Gleb Savchenko, as well as Bachelorette star Jenn Trann and pro Sasha Farber. “I think they have definitely made the show more interesting as specifically Jenn and Sasha since they stayed in pretty far, watching them evolve and everything they did together outside the show was super cool. I think it has been effective in keeping fans engaged because it helped get people excited to find out the truth about them,” sophomore Noa Lucas said.
In the three-hour finale, couples performed a redemption dance and the notorious freestyle, known as a make-or-break element in clinching the victory. Bachelor star Joey Graziadei led professional partner Jenna Johnson to her second mirrorball trophy following their tennis-themed freestyle, an acknowledgement of his career as a professional tennis player before becoming a part of the Bachelor franchise. “I honestly was happy for Joey, but I think Chandler and Brandon winning or Illona and Alana would have been much more exciting because Ilona was a fan favorite and so amazing. Brandon had never won a mirrorball and him and Chandler did outstanding every time,” Lucas said.
Rugby player Ilona Maher traded in her athletic attire for a pair of dancing shoes this season and alongside her partner Alan Berstein claimed second place. Maher began her freestyle reflecting on this season and transitioned to ripping off an Adidas tracksuit to reveal a shimmery, silver bodysuit and dancing to ‘Femininomenon,’ by Chappell Roan.
Kinney got her partner Armstrong to his first finale on the show, and made history as the first Black couple to ever make it to the finale. They performed an action-packed freestyle intended to honor Black dancers who came before them, which landed them third place.
Like Armstrong, this was professional dancer Rylee Arnold’s first finale and with celebrity ‘Pommel Horse guy,’ and two-time Olympic medalist Stephen Nedoroscik, the pair performed a freestyle filled with Olympic nods and choreography intended to showcase his gymnastics skills, ultimately leaving them in fourth place. Football player Danny Amendola and partner Witney Carson danced a Barbie-themed freestyle securing fifth place.
