Dancing with the Stars Results (Sept. 15, 2026): Who Went Home on Night One of the Season 35 Premiere
- Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman were eliminated at the end of Night One, even though they weren't last on the judges' leaderboard.
- Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson led with 21 out of 30, one point clear of Paralympic champion Ezra Frech.
- Night Two is Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, when the women dance and a second celebrity goes home.
Short version: Conner Leavitt went home on Night One of the Season 35 premiere, Tuesday, Sept. 15. The men danced, every song was a No. 1 hit from the celebrity's birth year, and the result combined the judges' scores with viewer votes cast during the live broadcast.
Who went home on Dancing with the Stars tonight?
Conner Leavitt, from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and his partner Adele Zaikman. They scored 12 out of 30 for a salsa to Tag Team's "Whoomp! (There It Is)."
That is the part worth sitting with. Their 12 was not the lowest number of the night. Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson scored 10 and stayed.
What were the Night 1 scores?
| Couple | Dance | Song | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Shum Jr. & Jenna Johnson | Cha-cha-cha | "Let's Groove" | 21/30 |
| Ezra Frech & Daniella Karagach | Tango | "Since U Been Gone" | 20/30 |
| Tyler Cameron & Sharna Burgess | Tango | "Are You Gonna Go My Way" | 17/30 |
| Connor Wood & Rylee Arnold | Cha-cha-cha | "I Like It, I Love It" | 16/30 |
| Taylor Hanson & Britt Stewart | Quickstep | "Tell Her About It" | 16/30 |
| Jackson Olson & Emma Slater | Cha-cha-cha | "Wannabe" | 15/30 |
| Conner Leavitt & Adele Zaikman | Salsa | "Whoomp! (There It Is)" | 12/30 — eliminated |
| Guillermo Rodriguez & Witney Carson | Cha-cha-cha | "Mr. Big Stuff" | 10/30 |
Judges: Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli. Eight couples, 127 points handed out, an average of 15.9 — a low-scoring opener by premiere standards, which is normal when nobody has a second dance to hide behind.
How did the lowest score of the night survive?
Because the judges only own half of it. ABC combined Tuesday's scores with votes placed by viewers while the show aired, and the vote is where Guillermo Rodriguez — Jimmy Kimmel's longtime sidekick, and the most familiar face in the group to a network audience — made up his two-point deficit.
👉 A 10 with a fan base beats a 12 without one. That is the lesson every returning viewer relearns in week one.
Ezra Frech's tango drew the loudest judging of the night. He's a two-time Paralympic gold medalist, and 20 out of 30 for a first-ever ballroom routine is a strong opening number.
Who is left going into Night 2?
Seven men: Harry Shum Jr., Ezra Frech, Tyler Cameron, Connor Wood, Taylor Hanson, Jackson Olson and Guillermo Rodriguez. Their scores carry forward.
The eight women dance Wednesday, and one of them goes home the same night. Here's the field, from our running cast and partners list:
| Celebrity | Pro partner |
|---|---|
| Tatyana Ali | Jan Ravnik |
| Giada De Laurentiis | Alan Bersten |
| Jenna Dewan | Val Chmerkovskiy |
| Amber Glenn | Pasha Pashkov |
| Maura Higgins | Mark Ballas |
| Ciara Miller | Brandon Armstrong |
| Sarah Jane Nader | Hailey Bills |
| Julia Stiles | Ezra Sosa |
Two of them have been the story of the cast reveal: Jenna Dewan, whose dance training has been argued about since Sept. 2, and Julia Stiles, who has never done anything like this. Both dance Wednesday.
When is the next episode?
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 8–10 p.m. ET on ABC, streaming live on Disney+ and next day on Hulu. Our how-to-watch page keeps the channel and streaming details in one place, and the week-ahead schedule tracks what else premieres around it.
After premiere week the show settles into Tuesdays. Earlier Tuesday we ran the start-time preview for this episode; the rest of the season lives in the DWTS section, and cast news goes to updates as it lands. Tyler Cameron, who scored 17, arrived with the biggest reality résumé in the men's field.
One practical note for anyone copying the men's rehearsal look: our sister site breaks down what competition-show training kit actually consists of.
FAQ
Did anyone score a 10 from a single judge? No. The night's high mark was Harry Shum Jr.'s 21 total, which works out to a 7 average across three judges.
Why were only men dancing? ABC split the premiere across two nights for Season 35 — men Tuesday, women Wednesday — with an elimination at the end of each. It's the first premiere-week elimination since 2018.
Do Night 1 scores matter after this week? Yes. They carry into next week's combined total, which is why Guillermo Rodriguez starts from behind even after surviving.
Sources
- Sports Illustrated Lifestyle — Season 35 Night 1 live recap: dances, scores and elimination
- Talent Recap — "Conner Leavitt Eliminated in Premiere First Night"
- ABC News / Good Morning America — Season 35 two-night premiere format and cast
- Dancing With The Stars official YouTube channel — Night One opening number
- Schedule data via TVmaze