DWTS Season 35 Premiere Tonight: Start Time, the Two-Night Split, and Who Dances First
Short version: Dancing with the Stars Season 35 premiered Tuesday, September 15, at 8/7c on ABC. It runs two hours. A second premiere episode follows Wednesday, September 16, in the same slot.
The wrinkle this year is who dances. Tuesday belongs to the men. Wednesday belongs to the women. One celebrity goes home each night.
| Time zone | Tonight's start |
|---|---|
| Eastern | 8:00 p.m. |
| Central | 7:00 p.m. |
| Mountain | 7:00 p.m. |
| Pacific | 8:00 p.m. |
ABC lists the season as 8|7c — 8 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific zones, 7 p.m. Central. The East and Central feeds are the live ones, so voting closes on the Eastern clock and the West Coast sees the episode in its own 8 o'clock hour. Mountain affiliates vary; check your local listing.
Why are the men dancing first?
ABC brought back a premiere-week format it last used in 2018, then added a twist of its own: this time the split is by gender.
So the running order looks like this.
- Tuesday, Sept. 15 — the male celebrities perform, then one of them is eliminated.
- Wednesday, Sept. 16 — the female celebrities perform, then one of them is eliminated.
- From Sept. 22 on — the field is back together in the usual Tuesday two-hour slot.
Two premieres, two eliminations, and a cast that's two people smaller by Thursday morning. Nobody gets the traditional soft landing week.
Who is dancing this season?
The Season 35 field mixes actors, athletes and reality regulars. Jenna Dewan and Julia Stiles are both in. So are chef Giada De Laurentiis, Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson, and singer Taylor Hanson.
Reality television is well represented through Maura Higgins, Ciara Miller and Tyler Cameron. Harry Shum Jr., Ezra Frech and Jimmy Kimmel Live! mainstay Guillermo Rodriguez round out the names announced so far.
We broke the full pairings down when they were announced, in our Season 35 cast reveal. If you want to know what the couples actually train in between shows, our sister site has a look at Season 35 rehearsal wear.
The judging panel is unchanged: Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, together since Season 29.
How do you watch without cable?
ABC carries it live. Streaming follows the pattern we laid out in our how to watch guide — live through services that carry your local ABC station, and next-day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Results are announced inside the episode, not the following week. That's why premiere night matters more than it used to.
What else is on this week?
Tuesday is crowded. Our week-ahead schedule tracks the other premieres landing alongside it, and the fall guide covers the season as a whole. Everything ballroom lives in the DWTS section, and cast news as it breaks sits in updates.
Night one is done: Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman were eliminated, with the full score table in our results post.
Sources
- TVInsider — Dancing With the Stars Season 35 premiere date, cast and judges
- ABC News / Good Morning America — Season 35 celebrity cast and pro partners
- Dancing With The Stars official YouTube channel — two-night premiere promo
- Who Went Home on Dancing with the Stars? Season 35 Eliminations So Far
- Dancing With the Stars Results, Sept. 16, 2026: Who Went Home on Premiere Night Two and All the Scores
- Dancing with the Stars Results (Sept. 15, 2026): Who Went Home on Night One of the Season 35 Premiere
- What Time Is Dancing with the Stars On? Season 35 Airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET